John Stainer: A Life in Music(Music in Britain, 1600-1900)

This comprehensive re-evaluation of John Stainer's life and work demonstrates that there was a great deal more to admire beyond The Crucifixion. The thoroughness of the research is impressive, based on profusion of sources, many of them little used until now.... A text that carries great authority, plus (almost equally important) a new and generously annotated list of Stainer's works both musical and literary. At last, Stainer has got his due, once and for all.'NICHOLAS TEMPERLEY, Professor of Music Emeritus, University of Illinois. One of the most important musicians of the Victorianera, Stainer is known for his considerable influence as a composer of Anglican liturgical music, and his corpus of secular works - madrigals and songs - presents many surprises. He was a brilliant organist, a fine scholar, theorist, pedagogue and teacher - multifarious attributes which this study elucidates and understands as part of his wider musical personality. Stainer's life is a story of extraordinary social mobility. From lowly origins he rose to become organist of St Paul's Cathedral and Professor of Music at Oxford. Yet after his premature death in 1901 he suffered almost immediate neglect except for the popularity of a handful of works, among them I saw the Lord and The Crucifixion. In rehabilitating Stainer and the crucial contribution he made to musical life, this book examines the breadth of his work as a composer, and the important role he played in the regeneration of sacredand secular musical institutions in Victorian Britain. JEREMY DIBBLE is Professor of Music at Durham University. His previous books include studies of Parry and Stanford and he is the author of numerous articles on British music. He is currently working on a dictionary of hymnology.

Table of Contents:
A Musical Youth: St Paul's Cathedral (1) 1840-1857 `I saw the Lord': Ouseley and Tenbury 1857-1859 `Drop down, ye heavens, from above': Oxford (1) 1860-1872 Reform and National Renown: St Paul's Cathedral (2) 1860-1872 H.M. Inspector of Schools and The Crucifixion 1882-1888 `Love Divine, all loves excelling': Oxford (2) 1889-1901 List of Works Bibliography

About the Author :
JEREMY DIBBLE is an Emeritus Professor of Music at Durham University where he taught for 30 years. With the Boydell Press, Dibble has published John Stainer: A Life in Music (2007), Hamilton Harty: Musical Polymath (2013), British Musical Criticism and Intellectual Thought, 1850-1950 (2018) (with Julian Horton), The Music of Frederick Delius (2021) and Charles Villers Stanford: Man and Musician (revised and expanded edition, 2024).

Review :
Illuminates an important aspect of a key figure in the Victorian musical world, some of whose music is still performed today. Dibble demonstrates convincingly that more of it should be performed and that there are neglected masterpieces from Stainer's hand. In short, this is a well-written and richly documented biography. As the second contribution to Boydell's new monograph series, Music in Britain, 1600-1900, this book is a welcome and readable addition. A wide-ranging, deeply engrossing book on a hitherto unfashionable figure central to English musical ,life in the 19th century. Scrupulously detailed research and a fine advocacy demonstrate a...far more widely-ranging figure than one perhaps might expect...If anything could spark a Stainer revival, it would be this book. What Dibble offers...is simply the most detailed, most thoroughly researched, most rounded life of Stainer there has yet been. [This] critical biography will not only remind readers of John Stainer's remarkable work and life but also go some way towards reinstating him as one of the originals in church and sacred music. A timely reminder of Stainer's significance. Dibble...does do Stainer proud in setting out his many achievements...It will be the standard text for a long time.