Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 1816 – 1 February 1875) was an English composer. He ranks as the most distinguished English composer of the Romantic school[1]
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William Sterndale Bennett was born in Sheffield, the son of Robert Bennett, the local Cathedral organist.[2] Orphaned at the age of three, he was brought up in Cambridge by his grandfather, from whom he received his first musical education. He entered the choir of King's College chapel in February 1824. In 1826 he was accepted as a child prodigy into the Royal Academy of Music, and remained a pupil of that institution for the next ten years, studying pianoforte under W. H. Holmes, violin under Spagnoletti and composition under William Crotch and then Cipriani Potter.[3]
While there in April 1833 he was appointed Organist of St Anne's Church in Wandsworth. In that same year at the premiere of his first piano concerto in D minor, he met Felix Mendelssohn, who was extremely impressed with him. The German master promptly invited Bennett to the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Düsseldorf, "not as my pupil but as my friend". From 1836 there followed four extended visits to work in Leipzig, where the young Englishman was welcomed and greatly admired by the leading musicians, notably Mendelssohn himself and Schumann, who later dedicated his Symphonic Studies to Bennett. He frequently played at the Gewandhaus.[4]
Although well grounded in the works of Bach and Mozart, some of his composition were clearly influenced by Mendelssohn. His output by this time included four overtures, six piano concertos, four symphonies, a chamber trio, sextet, several piano works, and two song cycles. Apart from being regarded as one of the most brilliant pianists in Europe, his music was particularly noted for its innovation, vitality and poetic beauty.[5]
Bennett returned to London in 1842 and two years later he married Mary Anne Wood (1824–1862), the daughter of Commander James Wood RN. Composition gave way to a ceaseless round of teaching and musical administration. For fifteen years he produced the popular Chamber Music Concerts in the Queen's Concert Rooms, Hanover Square in London introducing several eminent soloists to the British public.[6] In 1848 he became a founding Director of Queens College London [7] and the following year of Bedford College now part of London University,[8] such was his interest in securing quality education for women. Also in 1849 he formed the Bach Society (later to be re-formed as the Bach Choir) in London, to produce and conduct the first English performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion on 6 April 1854.[9] He played a prominent part in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the 1862 International Exhibition.
In 1853 he declined an invitation to become the Conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in favour of the Philharmonic Society, in which he succeeded Richard Wagner in 1856, and from whom he became the first recipient of their coveted Gold Medal.[10] Later that year, having received an MA, Mus Doc and Life Fellowship of St John's College he was elected Professor of Music at Cambridge University, a post he held until his appointment as Principal of the Royal Academy of Music in 1866. Among his pupils were Sir Arthur Sullivan, Sir Hubert Parry, Joseph Parry (no relation to Hubert), Francis Bache, Alice Mary Smith, Bettina Walker, W. S. Rockstro (biographer of Mendelssohn), and Tobias Matthay (the last-named eventually becoming one of England's best-known piano teachers).
Not until the late 1850s did he return to composition. Works from his later years included a Piano Cello Duo, Op 32, for Alfredo Piatti; a cantata The May Queen Op 39, for the opening of the Leeds Town Hall in 1858; a Symphony in G minor Op 43; the oratorio The Woman of Samaria Op 44 for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of 1867; and finally a Piano Sonata Op 46. Although these works were well crafted and popular in their day, they are only now occasionally performed. He edited some of the piano works of Beethoven and Handel and co-edited the Chorale Book of England with Otto Goldschmidt (husband of Jenny Lind). He also lectured at the London Institute and at Cambridge.[11]
In 1870 the University of Oxford conferred upon Bennett the honorary degree of D.C.L. A year later he was knighted, and in 1872 he received a public testimonial before a large audience at St James's Hall, London, the money subscribed being devoted to the foundation of a scholarship and prize at the Royal Academy of Music which is still given to this day. He died aged 58 in 1875 at his house in St John's Wood, London and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
A critic of the time[12] wrote "Bennett holds a most honourable place on the mid slopes. He found English music a barren land, enriched its soil and developed its cultivation". An English Heritage blue plaque is to be found at his home 8 Queensborough Terrace London W2.
Of a total of some 80 published compositions. nearly a half are currently available on CD, the most popular being the overture The Naiades Op 15, the Chamber Trio Op 26, and the Piano Concerto No. 4, Op 19.
His son James Robert Sterndale Bennett (1847–1928) wrote a biography of his father.[13] Many of the composer's descendants became professional musicians, notably his grandsons Robert (1880–1963) Director of Music at Uppingham School Rutland;[14] Tom (T.C.) (1882–1944), composer and singer, whose daughter Joan Sterndale-Bennett (1914–1996) was a well known West End actress,[15] and Ernest (1884–1982), a theatre director in Canada.[16] This continues today with Charlie Simpson frontman for Fightstar formerly Busted and his brothers Edd Simpson frontman of Union Sound Set and Will Simpson who fronts British rock band Brigade.
Bennett left a substantial music library to what has become a well documented family. The custodian is his great great grandson Barry Sterndale Bennett (b. 1939) in collaboration with the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. This continues to be available for research purposes.[17]