William Smith Rockstro (5 January 1823 – 1 July 1895) was an English musicologist, teacher, pianist and composer. He is best remembered for his books, including music textbooks, music history and biographies of famous musicians.

Life and career

Rockstro was born William Smyth Rackstraw in North Cheam,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. (He adopted an older form of his family name from 1846).Williamson, Rosemary
"Rockstro, W.S."
Grove Music Online., Oxford Music Online, accessed 12 May 2012 He studied composition and piano with William Sterndale Bennett, and from 1845 to 1846 he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory under

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

(composition and piano). His contemporaries there included Joseph Joachim and Otto Goldschmidt."Obituary: William Smyth Rockstro"
''The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'' , Vol. 36, No. 630 (August 1895), p. 549 After his studies in Leipzig, Rockstro established himself as a teacher of piano and singing in London, and he secured a regular appointment as an accompanist at a recital series. In the early 1860s he moved to the West Country, where he lived for nearly 30 years. Rockstro was an enthusiast for early music. In 1885 he conducted a concert of sacred music of the 16th and 17th centuries at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

. His own compositions, conservative in style, include operatic fantasias, short piano pieces, and songs. In 1886, he conducted his oratorio ''The Good Shepherd'' at the Three Choirs Festival, though it was not considered a success. '' The Times'' praised its obvious sincerity but complained of its conspicuous debt to

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

and its lack of good tunes. Together with his former pupil

J A Fuller Maitland John Alexander Fuller Maitland (7 April 1856 – 30 March 1936) was an influential British music critic and scholar from the 1880s to the 1920s. He encouraged the rediscovery of English music of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly Henry Pur ...

, Rockstro collaborated on a collection, ''English Carols of the 15th Century'' (1891). As an editor of music of earlier centuries he was far from scholarly in his changes: ''The Times'' commented that his edition of the ''

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...

'' "introduced marks of expression in a wholesale fashion not likely to meet with the approval of purists"."The Bach Choir", ''The Times'', 27 March 1884, p. 6 In 1891 he moved from the West Country back to London, where he taught both privately and at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

and the Royal College of Music. Rockstro's later years were marred by ill health, but his death at the age of 72 was nonetheless sudden and unexpected.

Publications

Rockstro is best known for his books. Books about musical practice were ''A Key to Practical Harmony'' (1881), ''Practical Harmony: a Manual for the Use of Young Students'' (1881), and ''The Rules of Counterpoint Systematically Arranged for the Use of Young Students'' (1882). His books on musical history were ''A History of Music for the Use of Young Students'' (1879) and ''A General History of Music from the Infancy of the Greek Drama to the Present Period'' (1886). He published biographical studies of Handel (1883) and Mendelssohn (1884) and two books about

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...

, ''Memoir of Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt: her Early Art-Life and Dramatic Career, 1820–1851'' (with H.S. Holland, 1891) and ''Jenny Lind, her Vocal Art and Culture (1894)''. In the original ''

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'' Rockstro contributed 240 articles, including those on "Mass", "Monteverdi", "Motet", "Opera", "Oratorio", "Orchestra" and "Plainsong". Two articles by Rockstro remained, with revisions, in the online edition of Grove at May 2012: those on " Cadence" and " Aevia" (a technical word used in mediaeval service books).

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rockstro, W. S. 1823 births 1895 deaths Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music English composers English music critics English writers about music English musicologists Musicians from Surrey People from Cheam Pupils of Felix Mendelssohn University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni 19th-century British composers 19th-century English musicians 19th-century musicologists