Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British
musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the ''
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition of ''
The New 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 t ...
''.
Along with
Thurston Dart,
Nigel Fortune and
Oliver Neighbour
Oliver Wray Neighbour, FBA (1 April 1923 – 20 January 2015) was a British musicologist and librarian. Along with Thurston Dart, Nigel Fortune and Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and pr ...
he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post-
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
generation.
Career
Born in
Wembley, Sadie was educated at
St Paul's School, London, and studied music privately for three years with
Bernard Stevens
Bernard (George) Stevens (2 March 1916 – 6 January 1983) was a British composer.
Life
Born in London, Stevens studied English and Music at St John's College, Cambridge with E. J. Dent and Cyril Rootham, then at the Royal College of Musi ...
.
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
/ref> At Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
he read music under Thurston Dart. Sadie earned Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of pre ...
degrees in 1953, a Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
degree in 1957, and a PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
in 1958. His doctoral dissertation was on mid-eighteenth-century British chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...
. After Cambridge, he taught at Trinity College of Music, London (1957–1965).
Sadie then turned to music journalism, becoming music critic for ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' (1964–1981), and contributing reviews to the ''Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' after 1981, when he had to leave his position and ''The Times'' because of his commitments to the ''Grove'' and other scholarly work. He was editor of '' The Musical Times'' from 1967 until 1987.
From 1970 Sadie was editor of what was planned to be the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980). Sadie oversaw major changes to the dictionary, which grew from nine volumes to twenty, and was published as ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (''New Grove''), and is now referred to as the first edition under that name. He was also an important force behind the second edition of ''New Grove'' (2001), which grew further to 29 volumes. Sadie also oversaw a major expansion of the ''Grove'' franchise, editing the one-volume ''Grove Concise Dictionary of Music'' (1988), and several spinoff dictionaries, such as the ''New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments'' (three volumes, 1984), the ''New Grove Dictionary of American Music'', (with H. Wiley Hitchcock, four volumes, 1986), and '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' (four volumes, 1992). He also edited composer biographies based on the entries in ''Grove''.
Outside his work on the ''Grove'' dictionaries, Sadie edited the '' Man and Music'' volumes accompanying a television series (1989–1993). He was also an accomplished bassoonist.
Sadie died at his home in Cossington, Somerset, 21 March 2005, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Motor Neurone disease), which had been diagnosed only a few weeks earlier.
Sadie married twice. His first wife, Adèle Sadie ''(née'' Bloom; 1931–1978) – whom he married in 1953 in London, and with whom he had two sons and a daughter – died in 1978. Sadie married Julie Anne Sadie ''(née'' Vertrees; born 1948), also a musicologist, in 1978. They had a son and a daughter.
Honours
In 1982, Sadie was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
). He received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Leicester
, mottoeng = So that they may have life
, established =
, type = public research university
, endowment = £20.0 million
, budget = £326 million
, chancellor = David Willetts
, vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah
, head_lab ...
in 1982, and was elected honorary fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...
in 1994 and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
. In 2005, Sadie became a Handel Prize laureate.
Professional affiliations
* American Musicological Society, corresponding member, 1996
* Royal Musical Association, president 1989–1984
* The Critics' Circle
* International Musicological Society, president 1992–1997
External links and resources
* ''Stanley Sadie Archive Project,'' Cambridge University Library
References
External links
The Grove dictionary online
by Alison Latham, ''The Guardian'', 24 March 2005
29 October 1992
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadie, Stanley
1930 births
2005 deaths
People educated at St Paul's School, London
Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Mozart scholars
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Neurological disease deaths in England
Deaths from motor neuron disease
International Musicological Society presidents
The Times people
Opera critics
English biographers
English male non-fiction writers
20th-century English writers
21st-century English writers
Academics of Trinity College of Music
Financial Times people
English music critics
Classical music critics
20th-century biographers
Handel Prize winners
20th-century British musicologists
The Musical Times editors