Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) has long been considered as one
of the leaders of the English Musical Renaissance on account of his
work as composer, conductor and pedagogue. In his earlier years he
rose to fame as a piano soloist, having been introduced to the
instrument at a very young age. It is no surprise then that his first
attempts at composition included a march for piano in i860. The piano
continued to play an important role in Stanford’s compositional career
and his last piano work, Three Fancies, is dated 1923. With over thirty
works for the instrument, not counting his piano duets, Stanford’s piano
pieces can be broadly placed in three categories: (i) piano miniatures or
character pieces which are in the tradition of salon or domestic music;
(ii) works which have a pedagogical function; and (iii) works which are
written in a more virtuosic vein. In each of these categories many of the
works remain unpublished. In most cases the piano scores are not
available for purchase and this has hindered performances after his
death
