Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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STAMATY STANFORD 671
STAMATY, Camillb Marie, son of a Greek
father and a very musical French mother, was
born at Rome, March 23, 1811. After the death
of his father in 1818 his mother returned to
France remained some time at Dijon, and finally
went to Paris. There, after long coquetting
between music and business as a profession,
Stamaty, in 1828, took an employe's post in the
Prefecture of the Seine. But music retained its
influence on him, and under Fessy and Kalkbrenner
he became a remarkable player. An
attack of rheumatism forced him from playing
to the study of composition. In March 1835
he made his first public appearance in a concert,
the programme of which contained a concerto
and other pieces of his composition. This led to
his being much sought after as a teacher. But
he was not satisfied, and in Sept. 1836 went to
Leipzig, attracted, doubtless, by the fame of Mendelssohn
and Schumann, then both resident there.
After a short course of instruction from Mendelssohn,
he returned to Paris early in 1837, and
introduced much more classical music—Bach,
Mozart, Beethoven, etc.—into his programmes.
In 1846 he lost his mother, in 1 848 he married,
iu 1862 was made Chevalier of the Legion of
Honour, and on AprU 19, 1870, closed a long
career of usefulness. From a crowd of pupils
it is sufficient to name Gottschalk and Saint-
Saens. His most permanent works are educational—
' Le Rhythme des doigts,' much praised
' Etudes progressives
'
' (opp. 37-39) ; Etudes
;
concertantes' (opp. 46, 47) ;
' Esquisse' (op. 19)
'
!^tudes pittoresques ' (op.
'
21) ; Six etudes
earacteristiques sur Oberon,' and 12 transcriptions
entitled Souvenir du '
Conservatoire.
Besides these, his solo sonatas in F minor and
C minor ; a PF. trio, op. 12 ; a concerto in A
minor, op. 2 sonatas, opp. 8 and 14 ; ; and other
works, were much esteemed at the time. The
concerto and some brilliant variations on an
original theme (op. 3) were reviewed very
favourably by Schumann {Gfes. Schriften, ii.
have been a great and brilliant player.
1S5, 181). G.
STAMITZ (sometimes called STEINMETZ).
A Bohemian musical family of much renown in
the 18th century. (1) Johann Wbhzl Anton '
bom June 19, 1717, son of the schoolmaster
at Deutschbrod ; a man evidently of great originality
and force. In 1742 he took part as a
solo violinist in the festivities at the coronation
of the Emperor Carl VII. , and shortly afterwards
was taken to Mannheim by the Elector, who in
1745 appointed him his leading violin and
director of chamber-music ; he remained there till
his death on or before March 27,1757. He wrote
much music for the violin, which shows him to
Six concertos,
3 sets of 6 sonatas, and some solo exercises,
giving the effect of duets, were published atParis,
1 The confusion between Johann and Carl, his son (see below), is
made worse by the habit of calling the father ' Johann Carl ' as
many authorities have done. Eitner says that his son Carl sometiinefl
used the name Johann.
and 21 concertos and 9 solos are still in MS.
He also wrote symphonies, of which several sets
of 6 were published, as well as concertos and
sonatas for the harpsichord. [The thematic
catalogue of 45 symphonies and 10 orchesti'al
trios is given in Jhrg. iii. 1 of the Denkmiiler
'
deutscher Tonkunst in Bayern, ' where fom- of the
symphonies and one trio are reprinted. The
introduction by Hugo Eiemann is the most
detailed account of the family that has yet
appeared.] The music shows a great advance
in effect and expression on anything that preceded
them. (2) His brother, Anton Thab-
DiEirs, born 1721, was a violoncello-player
according to Gerber, he was also in the Mannheim
band. He became a priest, rose to many
dignities, and died at Altbunzlau August 23,
1768. Another brother, Joseph, was distinguished
as a painter. Cannabich was one of
Johann's pupils ; but a still more memorable one
was (3) his eldest son, Gael, born at Mannheim,
May 7, 1746, and like his father a remarkable
violinist and composer. [He was a second
violin in the Mannheim band in 1762-70.]
In 1770 he went to Paris,and was known there as
a player of the viola and viola d'amore. He played
in London in 1778. His opera, Der verliebte
'
Vormund,' was given at Frankfort. In 1785 he
returned to Germany, and in 1787 we find him
at Prague and Nuremberg, in 1790 at Cassel, and
then at St. Petersburg, where he remained for
some years, and where he brought out a grand
opera, 'Dardanus.' He died at Jena in 1801.
His works include 70 symphonies, many
published in opp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 15, 16,
18, 19, and 24 ; others are in MS. They are
mostly for a larger orchestra than that employed
by his father ; some have two ' concertante ' violin
parts ; there are also many concertos, quartets,
trios, etc. (see the summary in Eiemann's preface
to Denkmaler deutscher Tonkunst, Jhgr. iii. 1).
(4) Another son of Johann was Anton, born
at Mannheim, 1753. He went to Paris with
Carl, and published 13 symphonies, 3 piano
concertos, a violin concerto, a violoncello concerto,
and many quartets, trios, and duets. [The
family had a great influence on the development
of the symphonic form ;
the father raised the
band to a pitch of superlative excellence, and
Carl's experiments in orchestration pointed the
way for later men. See Riemann's Lexikon, the
QuelUn-Lemkon, etc.] He died about 1820. G.
STA]SrFOED,SlRCHAELEsVlLLIERS,Mus.D.,
D.C.L.,LL.D.,wasbomSept. 30, 1852, at Dublin,
where his father, an enthusiastic amateur
vocalist, was Examiner in the Court of Chancery.
His first teachers were Arthur O'Leary and Sir
Robert Stewart, and various efforts in songs,
piano pieces, etc., were published while he was yet
a child. His first composition is stated to have
been a march composed in 1860, and played in
the pantomime Puss in Boots,' at the Theatre
'
Royal, Dublin, 1863-64 (see Mus. Times, 1898,