Stanford Memorial Day 2024
It was good to have so many members and friends of the Stanford Society join us in London on April 27th for the events that the Society arranged to mark the one hundredth anniversary of Stanford’s death.
The actual Anniversary was on March 29th,but because in 2024 this was Good Friday, we decided to mark the Anniversary on April 27th, when the Choir of Westminster Abbey would be back from their Easter break.
The day’s events started with the Book Launch for the second edition of Jeremy Dibble’s biography of Stanford at The Oxford and Cambridge Club. This is published by Boydell and has 700 pages, about 200 more than the First Edition. This reflects additions resulting mostly from the discovery of more collections of Stanford’s letters, a fuller discussion of the operas and more musical examples. Jeremy talked about the process of updating the first edition and the new information about Stanford and his music that has come to light since the first edition of his book was published in 2002.
We went on to a special Memorial Evensong for Stanford at Westminster Abbey. The service included several pieces of Stanford’s music including his setting of the Twenty Third Psalm, sung at his funeral and Engelberg. Following the service we held a brief wreath laying ceremony where a wreath was laid on Stanford’s grave in the Abbey. This was followed by a reception hosted by the Dean of the Abbey, the Reverend Dr. David Hoyle, in the Abbey’s historic Jerusalem Chamber.
In the evening we returned to the Oxford and Cambridge Club for a reception and Gala Dinner. This was attended by sixty-seven members and friends of the Society including a number of members of the Stanford family. Several attendees joined us from Ireland and Germany as well as the USA and Canada. The dinner was followed by speeches from Jeremy Dibble on Stanford’s legacy, and me on the origins and history of the Society.
The following day members of the Society attended Mattins at the Queen’s Chapel at St. James’ Palace, where the music included works by Stanford.
It was good to be able to mark the Anniversary in this way.
