Samuel Simons Sanford (15 March 18496 January 1910) was an American pianist and educator.

Early life

Education

He studied piano in New York with William Mason (son of

Lowell Mason Lowell Mason (January 8, 1792 – August 11, 1872) was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known ...

and student of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

and

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the ...

). He went to Paris and studied with

Alfred Jaëll Alfred Jaëll (5 March 183227 February 1882) was an Austrian pianist. His students included Benjamin Johnson Lang and Samuel Sanford (the eponym of the Sanford Medal). Life He was born in Trieste, then in the Austrian Empire. He studied under Car ...

, Louis Plaidy (teacher of

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for est ...

and many others), Théodore Ritter (another student of Liszt), and Édouard Batiste. In 1869, he became acquainted with

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the S ...

, and later studied with him.

Career

He travelled with Rubinstein during his first American tour in 1872–73.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versail ...

changed his execution of octave playing after hearing Sanford play, and once described Sanford as the most musically gifted person he ever knew. Sanford brought Sir

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's music to American attention through the brothers Walter and

Frank Damrosch Frank Heino Damrosch (June 22, 1859 – October 22, 1937) was a German-born American music conductor and educator. In 1905, Damrosch founded the New York Institute of Musical Art, a predecessor of the Juilliard School. Life and career Damrosch w ...

and Theodore Thomas. He was instrumental in having Elgar awarded an honorary doctorate in music from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1905; at the conferral ceremony on 28 June, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 was played, instituting the tradition of playing noble processional music at graduation ceremonies. Later that year, Elgar returned the compliment by dedicating his '' Introduction and Allegro'' to Sanford. Sanford joined the Yale Music Faculty as Professor of Applied Music in 1894, along with Horatio Parker as Professor of Theory. During the sixteen years he worked at Yale, he refused to be paid any salary as he was independently wealthy. He died at home on 6 January 1910 after a long illness.

Sanford Medal

In 1972 Yale University instituted the Samuel Simons Sanford Medal (usually referred to as the Sanford Medal), to honour celebrated concert artists and distinguished members of the music profession. Recipients have included: * 1972:

Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...

* 1975: Doriot Anthony Dwyer * 1983: Louis Krasner * 1983: Maureen Forrester * 1991:

Richard F. French Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

* 1997: Dorothy DeLay * 1999: Keith Wilson * 2000: H.M. King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej ( th, ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช; ; ; ( Sanskrit: ''bhūmi·bala atulya·teja'' - "might of the land, unparalleled brilliance"); 5 December 192713 October 2016), conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Grea ...

of Thailand * 2002: Lili Chookasian * 2003:

Andrew Litton Andrew Litton (born May 16, 1959, New York City) is an American orchestral conductor. Litton is a graduate of The Fieldston School. He studied piano with Nadia Reisenberg and conducting with Sixten Ehrling at the Juilliard School of Music in New ...

* 2005:

Robert Blocker Robert Blocker, DMA (born September 4, 1946) is an American classical pianist, music educator, and university administrator, who has served as Dean of the Yale School of Music since July 1995. He is a Steinway artist. Career highlights Ed ...

* 2005: Richard Stoltzman * 2010: Vivian Perlis * 2012:

Joseph W. Polisi Joseph William Polisi (born 1947) was the President of The Juilliard School from 1984 to May 2017, having assumed the position upon the death of his predecessor, Peter Mennin. Born in New York City to an Italian family, Dr. Polisi is the son of W ...

* 2013: Willie Ruff * 2013: Peter Gelb * 2015: Klaus Heymann * 2015:

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

Emanuel Ax Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher in the Juilliard School. Early life Ax was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Lviv, Ukraine, (in what was then the Soviet Union) to Joachim and ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mon ...

Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is known particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.Stephen Plaistow"Brendel, Alfred" ''G ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

, Richard Goode,

Marilyn Horne Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the Nat ...

, Sherrill Milnes,

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well ...

, Robert Shaw, Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving ...

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, an ...

, Randall Thompson, and

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassi ...

Notes

Sources

World-Renowned Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman was Presented Prestigious Sanford Medal by Yale School of Music on Thursday, September 1, 2005
1849 births 1910 deaths Musicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists American music educators Edward Elgar Yale University faculty 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century American pianists 19th-century American male musicians {{US-pianist-stub