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Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (September 30, 1852 – March 29, 1924) was an Irish composer.

Stanford was born in Dublin, the only son of John Stanford, examiner in the Court of Chancery (Dublin) and clerk of the Crown, County Meath. Both parents were accomplished amateur musicians; his father sang bass (and was also a cellist ^[1]) and his mother was a pianist. Charles trained under R. M. Levey (violin), Miss Meeke, Mrs Joseph Robinson, Miss Flynn and Michael Quarry (piano); and Sir Robert Stewart taught him composition and organ. His precocious ability was recorded in an article in The Musical Times in December 1898.

He came to London as a pupil of Arthur O'Leary and Ernst Pauer in 1862, and in 1870 won a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, moving to Trinity College in 1873, and succeeding J. L. Hopkins as college organist, a post he held until 1892. His appointment as conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society gave him great opportunities, and the fame which the society soon obtained was in the main due to Stanford's energies.

During his tenure many interesting performances and revivals took place. From 1874 to 1877 he was given leave of absence for part of each year to complete his studies in Germany, where he studied with Carl Reinecke and Friedrich Kiel. He took his BA degree in 1874 and MA in 1878, and was given the honorary degree of D.Mus. at Oxford in 1883 and at Cambridge in 1888.

He first became known as a composer with his incidental music to Tennyson's Queen Mary (Lyceum, 1876); and in 1881 his first opera, The Veiled Prophet, was given at Hanover (revived at Covent Garden, 1893); this was succeeded by Savonarola (Hamburg, April, and Covent Garden, July 1884), and The Canterbury Pilgrims (Drury Lane, 1884). A long interval separates these from his later operas: Shamus O'Brien, a delightful piece of Irish dramatic writing (Opera Comique, 1896) Much Ado About Nothing (Covent Garden, 1901), The Critic (Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 1916), and The Travelling Companion (David Lewis Theatre, Liverpool, 1925).

He was appointed professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in 1883; was conductor of the Bach Choir from 1886 to 1902; was professor of music at Cambridge, succeeding Sir G. A. Macfarren from 1887; conductor of the Leeds Philharmonic Society from 1897 to 1909, and of the Leeds Festival from 1901 to 1910. He was knighted in 1902.

Stanford was particularly known in his day for his choral works, chiefly commissioned for performances at the great English provincial festivals. These include two oratorios, a requiem (1897), a Stabat Mater (1907), and many secular works, often with a nautical theme, including The Revenge (1886), The Voyage of Maeldune (1889), Songs of the Sea (1904), and Songs of the Fleet (1910). His church music still holds a central place among Anglican compositions; and his editions of Irish and other traditional songs were well known.

His instrumental works include seven symphonies, six Irish Rhapsodies for orchestra, several works for organ, concertos for violin, clarinet, and piano, and many chamber compositions, including eight string quartets. He also composed songs, part-songs, madrigals, and incidental music to the Eumenides and Oedipus Rex (as performed at Cambridge), as well as to Tennyson's Becket. His music shows the influence of Brahms and Schumann, and to a lesser extent of Irish folk music; he was generally unsympathetic to more modern developments. Although there has recently been a revival of interest in his larger works after a long period of neglect, his chief importance is often held to be as a teacher of many English composers of the next generation, including Holst, Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Cecil Forsyth, Charles Wood (who succeeded him as music professor) and Herbert Howells. He was notoriously irascible and quarrelled with many of his contemporaries, including Elgar, Sullivan^{[citation needed]} and Parry. He published several books, including an autobiography, Pages from an Unwritten Diary (1914).

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Contents 1 List of works 1.1 Orchestral works 1.1.1 Symphonies 1.1.2 Concertos 1.1.3 Irish Rhapsodies 1.1.4 Other orchestral works 1.2 Choral works 1.2.1 Anthems and motets 1.2.2 Services 1.2.3 Works for choir and orchestra 1.3 Chamber Music 1.4 Piano Music 1.5 Miscellaneous 2 Bibliography 3 Recordings 4 See also 5 External links

• No. 1 in B flat major
• No. 2 in D minor, "Elegiac"
• No. 3 in F minor, "Irish" (Op. 28)
• No. 4 in F major (Op. 31) (1888) ^[2]
• No. 5 in D major, "L'allegro ed il penseroso" (Op. 56)
• No. 6 in E flat major, "In honour of the life-work of a great artist: George Frederick Watts" (Op. 94) (1905) ^[2]
• No. 7 in D minor (Op. 124)

• Piano Concerto (early- no. "0") (1874)^[3]
• Violin Concerto (early, 1875) ^[3]
• Cello Concerto in D minor (1879-1880) ^[3]
• Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor (Opus 59)
• Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor (Op. 126)
• Piano Concerto No.3 in E flat major (Op. 171, unfinished, orchestrated by Geoffrey Bush) (1919) ^[3]
• Concert Variations upon an English Theme "Down Among the Dead Men" for piano & orchestra in C Minor, Op 71
• Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 32
• Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 74
• Clarinet Concerto in A minor, Op. 80
• Concert Piece for organ & orchestra, Op 181

• Irish Rhapsody for orchestra No 1 in D Minor, Op 78
• Irish Rhapsody for orchestra No 2 in F Minor, Op 84 ("The Lament for the Son of Ossian")
• Irish Rhapsody for orchestra No 3, Op 137
• Irish Rhapsody for orchestra No 4 in A Minor, Op 141 ("Fisherman of Loch Neagh")
• Irish Rhapsody for orchestra No 5 in G Minor, Op 147
• Irish Rhapsody No. 6 for violin & orchestra, Op. 191

• Funeral March 'The Martyrdom'
• Oedipus Rex, incidental music, Op 29

• And I saw another Angel (Op. 37 No. 1)
• For lo, I raise up (Op. 145)
• If thou shalt confess (Op. 37 No. 2)
• The Lord is my Shepherd (composed 1886)
• Three Latin Motets (Op. 38)
  • Justorum animae
  • Coelos ascendit hodie
  • Beati quorum via

• Morning, Evening, and Communion services:
  • B flat major (Op. 10)
  • A major (Op. 12)
  • F major (Op. 36)
  • G major (Op. 81)
  • C major (Op. 115)
  • D major for Unison Choir (1923)
• Magnificat and Nunc dimittis settings:
  • E flat major (1873; publ. Cathedral Music 1996)
  • F major (Queens' Service) (1872; publ. S&B 1995)
  • on the 2nd and 3rd Gregorian Modes (1907)

• Heraclitus (Op. 110)
• Requiem, Op. 63 (1896) ^[2]

• String quartets
  • No. 1 in G major, Op.44 (1891)
  • No. 2 in A minor, Op.45 (1891)
  • No. 3 in D minor, Op.64 (1897)
  • No. 4 in G minor, Op.99 (1907)
  • No. 5 in B flat major, Op.104 (1908)
  • No. 6 in A minor, Op.122 (1910)
  • No. 7 in C minor, Op.166 (1919)
  • No. 8 in E minor, Op.167 (1919)
• Other works for string ensemble
  • String quintet No. 1 in F major, Op.85 for two violins, two violas & cello (1903)
  • String quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op.86 (1903)
• Piano trios
  • No. 1 in E flat major, Op.35 (1889)
  • No. 2 in G minor, Op.73 (1899)
  • No. 3 in A "Per aspera ad astra", Op.158 (1918)^[4]
• Works for violin and piano
  • Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op.11 (1880)
  • Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op.70 (1898)
  • Sonata No. 3, Op.165 (1919)
  • Legend, WoO (1893)
  • Irish Fantasies, Op.54 (1894)
  • Five Characteristic Pieces, Op.93 (1905)
  • Six Irish Sketches, Op.154 (1917)
  • Six Easy Pieces, Op.155 (1917)
  • Five Bagatelles, Op.183 (1921)
• Other works for solo instrument and piano
  • Sonata No. 1 in A major for violoncello & piano, Op.9 (1878)
  • Sonata No. 2 in D minor for violoncello & piano, Op.39 (1893)
  • Three Intermezzi for clarinet & piano, Op.13 (1880)
  • Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano, Op.129 (1912)
• Other works for strings and piano
  • Piano quartet No. 1 in F major, Op.15 (1879)
  • Piano quartet No. 2, Op.133 (1912)
  • Piano quintet in D minor, Op.25 (1887)
• Serenade in F major for Nonet, Op.95 (1906)
• Fantasy No. 1 in G minor for clarinet & string quartet WoO (1921)
• Fantasy No. 2 in F major for clarinet & string quartet WoO (1922)
• Phantasy for horn & string quartet in A minor WoO (1922)

• Preludes, Op.163
• Ballade, Op.170

• The Blue Bird, on words by Mary Coleridge
• Magnificat in B flat major for unaccompanied double choir
• Pater Noster (1874)

• Jeremy Dibble - Charles Villiers Stanford: man and musician (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)
• Paul J. Rodmell - Charles Villiers Stanford (Aldershot, Hampshire: Scolar Press, 2002)

• List of people on stamps of Ireland
• Rutland Boughton

1. ^ (December 1 1898) "Charles Villiers Stanford". The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular 39 (670): 785. ISSN 0958-8434. Retrieved on 2007-08-09. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Howell, Christopher (1997). Stanford and Musical Quotation. MusicWeb International. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} France, John (August 2007). STANFORD Cello Concerto, Piano Concerto No. 3 SRCD321: Classical CD Reviews. MusicWeb International. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
4. ^ (1918). "Downloadable Score of Stanford 3rd Trio" (PDF). Augener Ltd. Retrieved on 2007-11-30.

• Article on the Third Symphony
• Article on the String Quartets
• Charles Villiers Stanford Piano Quartet No.1, Op.15 & Piano Trio Nos.1 & 3 sound-bites and short biography
• Charles Villiers Stanford free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Charles Villiers Stanford was listed in the International Music Score Library Project
• Stanford Family Tree
• Moore's Irish Melodies, arranged by C. V. Stanford
• Stanford Cello Sonata No.2 reviews