Stanley Drummond Wolff (4 February 1916 – 9 April 2004) was an English organist, choirmaster,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and music educator who was primarily active in North America. His compositional output primarily consists of

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

s for choir and works for solo organ. In the 1980s he completed and published four volumes of hymns. Many of his compositions have been published by Concordia Publishing House and MorningStar Music Publishers.

Early life, career, and education in England

Born in London, Wolff became a choir soloist at the Savoy Chapel when he was 6 years old. By age 13 he was playing the organ for church services at St Matthew's Oakley Square in London where he held the position of assistant organist. He entered the Royal College of Music (RCM) in 1933 where he was a Kent Scholar. He earned a Bachelor of Music from the RCM in 1937. His teachers at the school included Sir Walter Alcock (organ), Dr. Ernest Bullock (organ), and

Charles Herbert Kitson Charles Herbert Kitson (13 November 1874 – 13 May 1944) was an English organist, teacher, and music educator, author of several books on harmony and counterpoint. Biography Kitson was born in Leyburn, Yorkshire, and attended school in Ri ...

( music composition). While studying at the RCM he won the Royal College of Organists's

Limpus Prize Limpus is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Arthur Limpus (1863–1931), British Royal Navy officer *Richard Limpus Richard Davidge Limpus (10 September 1824 – 15 March 1875) was a British organist and composer, who is ...

. After graduating from the RCM, the London County Council appointed Wolff as a senior instructor in music where one of his junior students was

Madeleine Dring Madeleine Winefride Isabelle Dring (7 September 1923 – 26 March 1977) was an English composer, pianist, singer and actress. Life Madeleine Dring spent the first four years of her life at Raleigh Road, Harringay, before the family moved to Stre ...

.Dring diaries 1937-38 He also served as the director and conductor of both London's chapter of the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

society and the

Clapham Operatic and Orchestral Society Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

. From 1938-1946 he served as the organist and Master of the Music for St Martin-in-the-Fields. During World War II he played actively with the Band of the Grenadier Guards.

Career in North America

Towards the end of World War II, Wolff was the conductor of the Canadian Military Headquarters Choir for their performances in Europe. This connection led to his appointment to the organ and music theory faculty at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 1946. He left there in 1948 to join the faculty at the University of Toronto (UT) where he taught alongside Ernest MacMillan and

Healey Willan James Healey Willan (12 October 1880 – 16 February 1968) was an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and pia ...

through 1956. Among his notable pupils were

F. R. C. Clarke Frederick Robert Charles Clarke, known largely by his initials F. R. C. Clarke (August 7, 1931 – November 18, 2009) was a Canadian musician and composer who spent most of his musical career in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Clarke was born in Van ...

and James Gayfer. From 1946-1952 Wolff served as the organist and choirmaster at the Metropolitan United Church (MUC) in Toronto. He composed several anthems for the MUC's choir, 12 of which were published together under the title ''Metropolitan Series of Choral Music'' in 1946. He also published two solo organ works around this time: ''Prelude on Greensleeves'' (1946) and ''Festival Fanfare'' (1950). In 1951 he co-founded the

Orpheus Choir of Toronto Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

with John Cozens. From 1952-1956 he was organist and conductor of The Cathedral Singers at the Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal. He also served as the director of the Bank of Montreal Choral Society and appeared as a guest conductor with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. After a brief return to the United Kingdom in 1956-1959 during which time he was employed by the London County Council as Head of Music at Tulse Hill School in south London (also composing the music for the school song), Wolff became the organist at the Bermuda Cathedral in 1959. He remained there for roughly three years, during which time he founded and conducted the Bermuda Oratorio Society and hosted radio programs of classical music for

Bermuda Radio Bermuda has three main television stations, a small cable microwave system, two public GSM services (Digicel, One Communications), multiple submarine cables (CB-1, Gemini Bermuda, GlobeNet, CBUS), and two main Internet service providers (Digicel, ...

. In 1962 he joined the music faculty of the College of Marin in Kentfield, California where he taught for the next 10 years.

Later life and career

In 1972 Wolff moved back to his native country, settling in Eastbourne where he taught music and occasionally worked as a conductor and organist until 1981. From 1981-1994 he lived and worked in Seattle, Washington in the United States. He afterwards lived in retirement in San Diego, California where he died at the age of 88 in 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Stanley 1916 births 2004 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Music English composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English organists British male organists British music educators Academic staff of The Royal Conservatory of Music Academic staff of the University of Toronto People from Eastbourne 20th-century organists 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians