John Stanley (composer)

Charles John Stanley (17 January 1712 Old Style – 19 May 1786) was an English composer and organist.

At about the age of two, he fell on a marble hearth with a china basin in his hand, an accident which left him almost blind.

Under the guidance of Maurice Greene, composer and organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, he studied "with great diligence, and a success that was astonishing" (Burney).

When he was fourteen "in preference to a great number of candidates" (Burney) he was chosen as organist at St Andrew Holborn, and at the age of seventeen became the youngest person ever to obtain the Bachelor of Music degree (B.Mus.)

Though virtually blind, Stanley had a remarkable memory, which helped him direct many of Handel's oratorios and to enjoy music-making and card games with his many friends.

After Handel's death in 1759, in 1760 Stanley began a partnership with the composer John Christopher Smith and later with Thomas Linley, in order to continue with the series of oratorio performances at Covent Garden.

Stanley's works include the opera Teraminta, the dramatic cantata The Choice of Hercules, twelve other cantatas with texts by John Hawkins, the oratorios Jephtha, The Fall of Egypt and Zimri, and instrumental music, notably three volumes of voluntaries for organ (1748, 1752, and 1754).