Samuel Simons Sanford (15 March 1849[1] – 6 January 1910) was an American pianist and educator.
He went to Paris and studied with Alfred Jaëll, Louis Plaidy (teacher of Hans von Bülow and many others), Théodore Ritter (another student of Liszt), and Édouard Batiste.
Sanford brought Sir Edward Elgar's music to American attention through the brothers Walter and Frank Damrosch and Theodore Thomas.
Later that year, Elgar returned the compliment by dedicating his Introduction and Allegro to Sanford.
[3][4] During the sixteen years he worked at Yale, he refused to be paid any salary as he was independently wealthy.