"One of Britain's most gifted and productive composers, Stanford (1852-1924) is perhaps best known for his church music, but he was also an eminent symphonist, songwriter, and author of many fine choral works. Cosmopolitan, ambitious, and pragmatic, he was untiring in his efforts to advance the cause of British music during its renaissance at the end of the nineteenth century, promoting the music of his contemporaries, and the many pupils he taught at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. A man with many causes and aspirations, he longed for success as an operatic composer, though this ultimately eluded him. An irascible, fiery, even passionate character, he was dogged in later life by disappointment which acted as a tragic counterbalance to the prodigious talent of his youth and meteoric rise to fame."--Jacket.