BAKEWELL AND DISTRICT PROBUS CLUB SIR WILLIAM STERNDALE BENNETT (1816-1875)
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
As in so many other aspects of life, the popularity of classical music composers can change remarkably quickly, such as that of Sir William Sterndale Bennett who was the subject of a talk to the Bakewell and District Probus Club by member Kim Rainsford. In his day, Bennett was highly regarded by his Victorian contemporaries but, since the early years of the 20th century, his music has fallen somewhat out of favour with the public, although the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians has described him as ‘A most distinguished English composer of the Romantic School’.
Kim started his talk by giving an outline of Bennett’s history. He was born into a musical family in Sheffield in 1816 but tragically, at the age of three, had lost both parents within two years of each other. Now orphaned, he was brought up in Cambridge by his paternal grandfather, John Bennett, a lay clerk to the choirs of King’s, St John’s and Trinity Colleges in that city. Having developed a remarkable musical talent, William, aged only ten, was accepted into the Royal Academy of Music where he remained a pupil for the next decade, learning to play the violin and piano. At the Academy, he also embarked on his career of musical composition for which, in time, he became greatly admired by other musicians of the day, including the celebrated Felix Mendelssohn.
In 1836, Bennett undertook the first of several visits to Germany where he and Mendelssohn collaborated musically and were members of a circle of friends that included another notable composer, Robert Schumann. At home in England, Bennett’s status was recognized by appointments as the Director of the Philharmonic Society of London in 1842, the Founding Director of Queen’s College London (1848), and Professor of Music at Cambridge (1856). He died in 1875 aged 59 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The speaker described the extent and variety of Bennett’s musical compositions of which there were a total of some 130, comprising choral and chamber music, symphonies, and works for piano. For all this prodigious output, Bennett has become a largely forgotten composer although, in 2016, to mark the bicentenary of his birth he was featured as ‘Composer of the Week’ on BBC Radio 3.
Further details of the Bakewell and District Probus Club, including reports of earlier meetings, can be found on its website at www.bakewellprobus.org
