Piano Music - Charles Villiers Stanford

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📖 "He represented to me the last of the formalists, and, to my mind, can be likened to a firm rock, standing out in what is still the somewhat fluid material of modern musical ideals."
Harold Samuel in Jeremy Dibble Charles Villiers Stanford. Man and Musician (2002)

📖 On Stanford's character at 17: "My estimate of his character formed at that time has varied but little since. He was warm-hearted and affectionate - entirely devoid of vanity, sentimentality or jealousy. He openly acknowledged any musical talents in others, never assuming superior airs. Being of a frank, unsuspicious nature, he was inclined to make new friends too readily and often suffered in consequence. His gravest defect was that he resented opposition to anything he proposed and which he invariably wanted to have carried out forthwith, regardless of due consideration for the wishes or difficultues of others or their point of view. When thwarted, he would show resentment and sulk for a while, but he would soon recover and be the same as ever. his disposition generally was gay; he was fond of fun and amusement, blessed with a strong sense of humour, thoroughly enjoying the good things of this life, yet ever clean and straight in his mode of living. Unless they had offended him deeply he never forgot old friends and was most happy when he had them around him."
De Versan in Plunket H. Greene's Charles Villiers Stanford (1935)

📖 On Stanford's teaching time at the Royal College of Music: "The impression he made on me was, primarily, one of brilliance. His personality had a sort of splendour, as if the hero of a fairy-tale, incredibly gifted, miraculously omniscient, had strolled unconcernedly into a world of ordinary mortals. Until I got used to it his very appearance awed me: his tall, loose figure, his slow walk with its short steps, his fair head rising from the collar of his fur coat, his somewhat unshapely nose, which one had to admit as a small flaw in his majesty. His speech added to the wonder he created in me: his Irish brogue grafted on to a Cambridge idiom, his calm, assured, and certain manner of utterance seemed to me, accustomed to the vigour of provincial dialectics, so masterly, so ideal! Those were indeed his great days. Gifted, confident, productive, already important in his sphere gradually winning favour, he seemed to have the world at his feet. Evidently high in the counsels of the College, admired by the Director, esteemed by his pupils, he was a force such as this generation can hardly realise."
Sidney Peine Waddington Stanford in the Early Days, in RCM Magazine (May 1933)

Charles Villiers Stanford

1852 - 1924
Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Stanford was a prodigiously gifted and greatly versatile musician who, along with Carrie and Mackenzie contributed much to forging the new standards of the so-called 'renaissance' of British music at the end of the 19th century. He brought a technical brilliance to most genres as a composer and acquired a stature as a composer primarily in the province of church music. Today he is best remembered as a teacher of several generations of British composers who studied with him at the Royal College of Music and Cambridge University.

📖 "Heaven must be in me before I can be in heaven."

Quote by Charles Villiers Stanford

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Piano Music by Charles Villiers Stanford

March, D♭, 1860

2 Novellettes, 1874

5 Phantasie-stücke, pf duet, 1875

Suite, op.2 (1875)

Toccata, C, op.3 (1875)

Romance (Une fleur de mai) (?1875)

6 Waltzes, [op.9], 1876, also arr. pf duet, 1876

10 Dances, Old and New, op.58, c1894

4 Irish Dances, op.89, 1903, arr. P. Grainger (1907–10)

3 Rhapsodies from Dante, a, B, C, op.92, 1904

6 Characteristic Pieces, op.132, 1912

5 Caprices, op.136, 1913

Night Thoughts, op.148, 1917

Scènes de ballet, op.150, 1917

6 Sketches (Children's Pieces) (1918)

Preludes in all the Keys, i, nos.1–24, op.163, 1918

Ballade, g, op.170 (1919)

6 Song-Tunes (1920)

A Toy Story (1920)

Preludes in all the Keys, ii, nos.25–48, op.179 (1921)

3 Nocturnes, op.184, 1921

Irish Airs Easily Arranged, c1922

2 Fugues, op.193: c, 1922, b, 1923 [arr. of nos.2 and 3 of 3 Preludes for Org]

3 Waltzes, a, d, F, op.178 (1923)

3 Fancies, ?1923

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