Sir John Stainer was an English composer and organist whose music, though not generally much performed today (with the exception of The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion (Stainer)

The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor....

, still heard at Passiontide

Passiontide

Passiontide is a name for the last two weeks of Lent, beginning on Passion Sunday and ending on Holy Saturday....

 in many Protestant churches of the former British Empire), was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for Anglican church music

Anglican church music

Anglican church music is music that is written for liturgical performance in Anglican church services.Almost all of it is written for choir with or without organ accompaniment...

 which are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming professor of music at Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. According to Peter Charlton's biography, Sir Arthur Sullivan

Arthur Sullivan

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...

's tribute to Stainer was blunt and memorable: "He is a genius".

Biography

Stainer was born in Southwark

Southwark

Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, on 6 June 1840. As a boy, he sang in the choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 of St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...

 (a house in the cathedral's present choir school is named after him). At the age of 16, he was appointed by Sir Frederick Ouseley

Frederick Ouseley

Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley, 2nd Baronet was an English composer, organist, and musicologist.He was born in London, the son of Sir Gore Ouseley, and manifested an extraordinary precocity in music, composing an opera at the age of eight years. In 1844, having succeeded to the baronetcy, he...

 to the post of organist at the newly founded St. Michael's College, Tenbury

St. Michael's College, Tenbury

The College of St. Michael and All Angels, in Tenbury Wells Worcestershire was a boys school founded by Frederick Ouseley in 1856 to provide a model for the performance of Anglican church music. Choral services were performed daily in term time, and the college possessed a library that contained...

. Because of a childhood accident, Stainer had lost the use of one eye; for a brief period in 1875 he lost that of the other too.

In 1860 he became organist at Magdalen College

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

, Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, moving to St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...

 in 1872. Thirteen years afterwards, he was awarded an honorary degree by Durham University

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

; and he became professor of music at Oxford University

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 in 1889. He conducted pioneering research into early music, notably the output of Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century.-Early life:From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of...

, then scarcely known even among experts. He also contributed a small treatise, Harmony, and another, Composition, to the famous series of Novello musical primers. For budding organists he wrote a primer called, simply, The Organ, which continues to have a following. In recognition of his services to British music, he received a knighthood from Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 in 1888.

While on an Italian vacation, Stainer died in Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

 of heart failure on 31 March 1901, at the age of 60. His funeral was held on 6 April at St Cross Church, Holywell, Oxford, and the surrounding streets were filled with mourners.

Notable works

Stainer's output of sacred music was extensive, including the Passion cantata

Passion cantata

A Passion cantata is a cantata that takes as its theme the Passion of Jesus Christ, i.e. the hours, days, or weeks leading up to and including his crucifixion. Some of the larger cantatas have been referred to as oratorios.-English:...

 or oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion (Stainer)

The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor....

(1887), the Sevenfold Amen (this latter piece especially admired by the lexicographer Sir George Grove

George Grove

Sir George Grove, CB was an English writer on music, known as the founding editor of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians....

), and numerous hymn tune

Hymn tune

A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....

s, including "Cross of Jesus", "All for Jesus" (both from The Crucifixion), and "Love Divine". His evening canticles (Magnificat

Magnificat

The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...

 and Nunc dimittis

Nunc dimittis

The Nunc dimittis is a canticle from a text in the second chapter of Luke named after its first words in Latin, meaning 'Now dismiss...'....

) are occasionally revived, as are the anthems How beautiful upon the mountains and I saw the Lord.

His work as composer has lost most of its fame since his death. The Crucifixion is one of the few major works of his that is still regularly performed. It is often given in English churches during Holy Week

Holy Week

Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...

 and forms part of the repertoire of numerous choirs. He also made a lasting contribution to the music of Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 in his Christmas Carols New and Old (1871), produced in collaboration with the Revd H. R. Bramley

Henry Ramsden Bramley

Henry Ramsden Bramley was an English clergyman and hymnologist perhaps best known for his collaborations with the composer Sir John Stainer...

, which marked an important stage in the revival of the Christmas carol

Christmas carol

A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...

. The book includes Stainer's arrangements of what were to become the standard versions of "What Child Is This", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol. The melody is in Aeolian mode. It was published by William B...

", "Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas

"Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol about a king who goes out to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen . During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step,...

", "The First Nowell", and "I Saw Three Ships

I Saw Three Ships

"I Saw Three Ships " is a traditional and popular Christmas carol from England. A variant of its parent tune "Greensleeves", the earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William B. Sandys in 1833...

", among others.

Incomplete list of works

A list of Stainer's more prominent works is provided below. A more complete, but still partial, list can be found here.

Anthems

• Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion
• Drop down, ye heavens, from above
• God so loved the world (chorus from The Crucifixion)
• Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God
• How beautiful upon the mountains
• I desired wisdom
• I saw the Lord
• Lead kindly light
• What are these that are arrayed in white robes

Cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s

• The Daughter of Jairus (1878)
• St. Mary Magdalen (1883)
• The Crucifixion (1887)

Services

Service (music)

In Anglican church music, a service is a musical setting of certain parts of the liturgy, generally for choir with or without organ accompaniment.-Morning Prayer:*Venite *Te Deum or Benedicite...

• Full services in E flat, D/A, B flat and D
• Communion services in A, F and C

External links

• St. Cross Church, Oxford: Sir John Stainer, Composer, Organist & Musicologist
• Listen to a free recording of God so loved the world from Coro Nostro, a mixed chamber choir based in Leicester, UK.
• Lewisham Primary School named after John Stainer