Joseph Binns Hart

Joseph Binns Hart (5 June 1794 – 10 December 1844) was an English organist, and a compiler of dance music, particularly of the quadrille.

Life He was born in London on 5 June 1794. He was chorister at St Paul's Cathedral under John Sale from 1801 to 1810, and during those years took organ lessons from Samuel Wesley and Matthew Cook, piano lessons from Johann Baptist Cramer. Aged eleven Hart often deputised for Thomas Attwood, the organist of St Paul's Cathedral.

In 1810 he became organist of St Mary's Church, Walthamstow, and joined the Earl of Uxbridge's household as organist for three years. He subsequently became organist of All Hallows' Church, Tottenham.

From 1829 until his death, Hart lived in Hastings, where he opened a music-seller's shop, conducted a small band, and played the organ at St Mary's Chapel. He died on 10 December 1844 in Hastings, aged 50.

Publications Some of Hart's most successful quadrilles were based on the music of Mozart's Don Giovanni (1818), Locke's Macbeth, Rossini's Pietro l'eremita (1822) and La donna del lago (1823), Weber's Der Freischütz 1824, and English, Irish and Scottish melodies. He composed forty-eight sets in all. He was also the author of some waltzes and galoppades. An Easy Mode of Teaching Thorough Bass and Composition is ascribed to him.