Son of a law­yer, Stan­ford at­tend­ed Cam­bridge in 1870, and earned his ba­che­lor’s de­gree in 1874. He stu­died in Leip­zig and Ber­lin, Ger­ma­ny (1874-76), and earned his mas­ter’s de­gree in 1877. He was or­gan­ist at Trin­i­ty Coll­ege (1873-82), and com­posed and con­duct­ed mu­sic­al so­ci­e­ties. In 1883, he be­came the first pro­fes­sor of com­po­si­tion and or­ches­tra at the Roy­al Coll­ege of Mu­sic. From 1885-1902, he con­duct­ed the Lon­don Bach Choir. From 1887-1924, he taught at Cam­bridge Uni­ver­si­ty. From 1901-10, he con­duct­ed the Leeds Fes­ti­val. He was knight­ed in 1902.

In ad­di­tion to a bo­dy of church and cham­ber mu­sic, Stan­ford’s works in­clude:

• Piano Suite op. 2, 1875
• Piano Toc­ca­ta op. 3, 1875
• Music for Ten­ny­son’s Queen Ma­ry in Lon­don, 1876
• The Veiled Pro­phet of Khor­os­san, an op­era, 1877
• Philip Dod­dridge, D.D. (New York: A. C. Arm­strong and Son, 1881)
• Irish Sym­pho­ny op. 28, 1887
• Shamus O’Bri­en, an op­era, 1896
• Pages from an Un­writ­ten Di­a­ry, 1914
• Musical Com­po­si­tion, 1911

• Frost, p. 691
• Randel, p. 862
• Upton, pp. 453-54

1. Airedale
2. Engelberg
3. Fitzroy
4. Geronimo
5. Luard
6. St. Ba­sil the Great
7. St. Pat­rick’s Breast­plate