Jacob Thune Hansen Gade (29 November 1879 – 20 February 1963) was a Danish violinist and composer, mostly of orchestral popular music.

He started to work at small cafeterias and, about two years later, when he was only 18, he began to be connected with people who summoned him to play at an operetta in Frederiksberg, the night center of entertainment at that time.

A prolific composer, in 1900, for the first time a toast song of his was published titled “Der er sollys i modne druer” (There is sunshine in ripe grapes), with lyrics by his finder, Lorry Feilberg.

It turned out a very popular song and, among others, it was sung by Elna From, a theater actress ten years older than he, who was his first love.

In 1909, the recognition he achieved by his work got him hired by the famous Hotel Bristol, located in front of the main plaza of Copenhagen.

He adopted several pseudonyms, like Maurice Ribot, Leon Bonnard, James Wellington, Fred Marshall and Jascha Tjenko.

He returned to his country to conduct the orchestra of the Palads Cinema theater and to compose and arrange music to be played during the projection of movies.

Son of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Astor, it placed Denmark in the world map of music.

In Great Britain, the orchestra led by Gerald Bright presented his vocalist Monterrey (whose true name was Montgomery) singing a lyric by E. Way and so appeared many others of the kind.

The boom of Jalousie stirred up a legal conflict with the Danish publishing house Wilhelm Hansen to which Gade had granted the royalties of all the pieces he would compose until a certain date.

The number was included totally or partially in over 100 movies, in numerous television series and on all new ways of playing back since records appeared.

[citation needed] When Gade drew up his will in 1956, he included his wish that all his estate and future royalties were granted to a foundation that had to be created under his name to sponsor young talented musicians.

Explaining that reason, he said: «I still remember the financial and educational difficulties I had when I was young, when I arrived in Copenhagen with the purpose of making a living with music».

In 1993 the publishing house founded by Gade sued Hansen's for the huge figures that the latter collected as royalties from “Jalousie”, but the court passed judgment against the former.

There is a peculiar arrangement of “Jealousy” for a woodwind quintet which was premiered on the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the accession to the throne of the queen Margaret of Denmark, in the Elsinore Castle in June 1992.

Written to accompany the silent era blockbuster Son of Zorro when Gade was leader of the orchestra of the Palads Cinema,[2] the tango premiered on 14 September 1925 and was an instant international hit.