John
Stanley’s Concerto No. 1 in D Major
Biographical
information:
John
Stanley lived from 1712 to 1786. He was born in London and had five siblings. At
the age of two he had an accident that left him nearly blind. He began studying
music at the age of seven. Maurice Greene served as his organ instructor and at
the age of 11 he became the organist at All Hallows. At the age of 14 he was
the organist at St. Andrews and at 17 received a BMus degree at Oxford University.
He was the youngest person to do so. In 1734 he became the organist for the
Society of the Inner Temple and he kept this job until his death. He was
secretly married to Sarah Arlond in 1738. In 1770 he became the governor of the
Founding Hospital. He wrote many pieces and many people seemed to like his
work. He was known as an astounding organist.
a. Concerto
No.1 was first published in 1742. This piece was part of his Six Concertos in
Seven Parts. This piece was recorded in St. Mary’s Church. It was performed a
number of times, but I was unable to find the location.
b. This
piece is a concerto. There is always some type of solo instrument that is accompanied
by an orchestra. Stanley’s piece is specifically for organ and strings. It
could be said it is a little unusual that he uses just a string orchestra
instead of a typical orchestra in which instruments are drawn from the four
instrumental groups. This piece is also five movements. A typical concerto has
only three.
c. The
first movement of this concerto is Largo. This is typically a slow movement. It
is pretty typical of the time especially as a baroque piece. Usually the first
movement in a concerto is fast and not slow. This seems different from most
three movement concertos.
d.
This piece was more late-baroque. It did not vary that much and it had more or
less the same musical qualities throughout the movement. It also had a slow
harmonic rhythm that was well-balanced that could have signified the new styles
coming in.
References
Prescott, John Richard. (2011). John Stanley, "A Miracle
of Art and Nature": The Role of Disability in the Life and Career of a
Blind Eighteenth-Century Musician. UC Berkeley: Music. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6cn0h2r2
John Stanley. “ Eighteenth Century English Music.” Retrieved
from http://rslade.co.uk/18th-century-music/composers/john-stanley/
It says a lot about Stanley's musical memory that he was essentially blind and yet was still able to execute playing as well as composing of a piece. I looked him up and Handel was actually quite impressed with Stanley and visited the Temple Church frequently to hear him play. Stanley even directed several of Handel's oratorios! Supposedly, if he was learning a new accompaniment, he would have his sister-in-law play it once. That was all it took for him to commit it to memory. Whoa.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how long it must have taken him to learn the music he played...I can't believe he only had to hear it once. That's incredible.
DeleteThat's quite amazing that he is a blind organist. I bet he is similar to Bach's situation where he can feel the vibrations of his piano but for this guy plays organ so I'm sure the vibrations really help him out.
ReplyDeleteThis may be just from my perspective but it is crazy how individuals like Stanley are not known, or in the lime-light, like other great composers but then there are articles that say he was "Like the great Johann Sebastian Bach, Stanley was better known in his lifetime as a performer rather than a composer," and "he achieved an almost Handel-like status by the time he died."
ReplyDelete