Stanford: Anthems And Services

Description

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)Anthems and ServicesSir Charles Villiers Stanford was one of the seminal figuresof the British musical renaissance in the late nineteenth century. Born inDublin, he demonstrated talents as a composer from his teens and won an organscholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1870. During 1874 and 1875 healso studied with Carl Reinecke in Leipzig and Friedrich Kiel in Berlin. From1874 to 1892 he was organist of Trinity College, Cambridge, and his skills as aconductor led to appointments that included CUMS (Cambridge University MusicalSociety) and the Bach Choir. His two principal academic appointments were asprofessor of music at Cambridge from 1887 to 1924 and as professor ofcomposition at the Royal College of Music from 1883 to 1924. He taught twogenerations of British composers including Vaughan Williams, Holst, Ireland,Moeran and Howells, and was knighted in 1902. Brahms was Stanford's musical'god', and his own music reflects his influence. During his life hiscompositions were highly successful at home and abroad. His legacy includesseven symphonies, of which the Third, the 'Irish' (1887), is best known, choralworks large and small, ranging from the Requiem (1896) and Songs of the Fleet(1910), to the exquisite part-song The Bluebird (1910), and operas such asShamus O'Brien (1894-5).             Itis for his contribution to Anglican church music, however, that Stanford isprincipally remembered. This included major settings of the canticles as wellas anthems, hymns and organ works. In his first important setting of theServices, in B flat (1879), it is clear that he is sweeping away the moribundapproach of earlier Victorian composers and is establishing new expressivemeans through applying Brahmsian procedures in cyclical unity, thematictransformation and symphonic structure. The r??le of the accompanying organ isalso heightened to superb effect. These tenets, subsequently enriched anddeveloped with maturity, mark all the Services that followed.             Stanford'slast important setting of the Morning, Communion and Evening Services, in Cmajor, was composed in 1909. It is arguably his grandest and the one in whichthe thematic ideas are most closely knit together to provide a unifying force.The opening of the Te Deum is sonorous and expansive, its curvaceous melodic line,like the arches of a great cathedral, permeates the settings. So too the themeintroduced by the basses at 'The glorious company of the Apostles', and theorgan's accompaniment figure at the section beginning 'When thou tookest uponthee to deliver man'. At the end the opening idea returns to sweep the music toits resplendent climax at 'O Lord in thee have I trusted'. Superficially themusic of the lilting Benedictus is unrelated to the Te Deum, but links arepresent in the key scheme underlying its two principal ideas, and in theGloria,