Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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670 STAINER STAINEE
tion of Von Gilm's poem) ; Hill, VioliTis and
their Makers (two pictures of Stainer's house) ;
Heron- Allen, A Pilgrimage to the House of Jacob
Stainer (Masieal Times, AagastXW^). E, H-A.
Stainer, Marcus, brother of the last mentioned,
a celebrated Tyrolese violin - maker.
Mark Stainer learned his trade fi-om Jacob, and
set up for himself at the village of Laufen. The
famous Florentine player Veraeini* had two
violins by this maker, christened ' St. Peter
and 'St. Paul,' and he reckoned them superior
to all Italian violins. In sailing from London
to Leghorn in 1746 Veraeini was shipwrecked
and the fiddles were lost. The instruments of
this maker are extremely rare. They are made
of unusually fine material, of somewhat large
size, covered with dark varnish, and are sweet
though decidedly feeble in tone. Like those
of Jacob Stainer, they usually contain written
labels. One of these runs ' thus : Marcus
'
Stainer, Burger und Geigenmacher in Kiifstein,
anno 1659.' Occasionally Marcus Stainer
yielded to an obvious temptation, and sold his
violins under the name of his more famous
brother. E. j. p.
STAIITER, SiK John, Mus.D., son of a
schoolmaster, was born in London, June 6,
1840, entered the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral
in 1847— by which time he was already a remarkable
player and an excellent sight-singer
and remained there till 1856, very often taking
the organ on occasion. In 1854 he was appointed
organist and choirmaster of St. Benedict
and St. Peter, Paul's Wharf, of which the Rev.
J. H. Coward, classical master to the choristers,
was Rector. At the same time he learnt harmony
from Bayley, master of the St. Paul's
boys, and counterpoint from Dr. Steggall, for
whom he sang the soprano part in his Mus.D.
exercise at Cambridge in 1852. Through the
liberality of Miss Hackett he received a course
of lessons on the organ from George Cooper at
St. Sepulchre's. In 1856 he was selected by
Sir F. Ouseley as organist of his then newlyfounded
College at Tenbury, where he remained
for some time. In 1859 he matriculated at
Christ Church, Oxford, and took the degree
of Mus.B. Shortly after, he left Tenbury for
Magdalen College, Oxford, where after six months'
trial he was appointed organist and informator
choristarum. He then entered St. Edmund
Hall as a resident undergraduate, and while
disohirging his duties at Magdalen, worked
for his B.A. degree in Arts, which he took in
Trinity Term 1863. Meantime, on the death
of Stephen Elvey, he had been appointed organist
of the University of Oxford, and was conductor
a flourishing College Musical Society and of
another association at Exeter College. But
nothing interfered with his duties at Magdalen,
where he raised the choir to a very high state of
efficiency. In 1865 he proceeded to his Mus. D.
degree, and 1866 to his M.A., and became one
of the examiners for musical degi-ees. In 1872
he left Oxfoi'd and succeeded Goss as organist of
St. Paul's Cathedral. The services were at that
time by no means what they should have been ;
but Stainer possessed the confidence of the Dean
and Chapter, and his hard work, knowledge,
and tact, at last brought them to a worthier
pitch of excellence.
Dr. Stainer did not confine his activity to his
own University. He was a member of the Board
of Musical Studies at Cambridge, and for two
years was also examiner for the degree of Mus.D.
there. He was examiner for musical^ degrees
in the University of London ; an Hon. Member
of the Roysd Academy of Music, and Hon.
Fellow of the Tonic Sol-fa College ; a Vice-
President of the College of Organists, and a Vice-
President of the Musical Association, of which
he was viitually the founder. He was a juror
at the Paris Exhibition of 1880, and at its close
was decorated with the Legion of Honour. He
was attached to the National Training School,
London, as a Professor of Organ and Harmony,
from its foundation, and at Easter 1881 succeeded
Sullivan as Principal. In 1882 he succeeded
Hullah as Inspector of Music in the
Elementary Schools of England for the Privy
CouncO. He was also a Member of Council of
the Royal College of Music. [In 1888 he was
obliged to resign his post at St. Paul's owing to
his failing sight. In the same year he received
the honour of knighthood. He was appointed
Professor of Music in the University of Oxford
in 1 889, was Master of the Company of Musicians
in 1900, died at Verona, March 31, 1901, and
was bm-ied at Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, April
6, of the same year. See MusicaX Times, 1901,
pp. 297, etc.] His compositions embrace an
oratorio, Gideon ' ; a cantata, The ' Daughter
'
of Jairus,' composed by request for the Worcester
Festival of September 1878 ; a cantata,
'St. Mai7Magdalen'(Gloueester Festival, 1883);
and an oratorio, The ' Crucifixion '—his most
popular work— 1887. He also wrote many
services and anthems, and among his most successful
and artistic pieces of church music must
be named the well-known 'Sevenfold Amen.'
He is the author of the two very popular manuals
of Harmony and The Organ in Novello's series,
and of a work on Bible music, and was part
editor with W. A. Barrett, of a Dicticmary of
Musical Terms (Fovello, 1876 and 1898). He
also edited the interesting Ditfay and his Contemporaries,
1898. Sir J. Stainer was beloved
and esteemed by all who knew him, and v/as an
admirable and eflBeient musician in all branches ;
but his great excellenc% was in his organ-playing,
and especially his accompaniments, which were
unsurpassed. He was a shining example of the
excellent foundation of sound musical knowledge
which may be got out of the various duties and
shifts of the life of a clever chorister in one of
our cathedrals. g.