Stephen Elvey (1805–1860) was an organist and composer.

Life

Stephen Elvey was the elder brother, and for some time the teacher, of Sir George Elvey. He was born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

in June 1805, and received his training as a chorister of the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

under Highmore Skeats. In 1830 he succeeded Bennett as organist of

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

, and won a reputation for his playing. He became Mus. Bac. Oxon. 1831, and Mus. Doc. 1838. He was organist of the

University Church of St Mary the Virgin The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of u ...

, and from 1846 organist of St. John's College. While

William Crotch William Crotch (5 July 177529 December 1847) was an English composer and organist. According to the American musicologist Nicholas Temperley, Crotchwas "a child prodigy without parallel in the history of music", and was certainly the most dis ...

simultaneously held the offices of professor of music and choragus at Oxford, Elvey acted as his deputy in all professorial matters for some years until Crotch died at the end of 1847. In 1848 the offices were divided, Sir Henry Bishop becoming professor, and Dr. Elvey choragus. He retained his appointments until his death in October 1860, at the age of fifty-five.

Works

His ''Evening Service in continuation of Croft's Morning Service in A'' dates from about 1825, when Elvey was a lay-clerk at Canterbury Cathedral. The ''Oxford Psalm Book'' (1852), containing six original tunes, was inspired by the 'increasing attention to music shown by the congregational character of the singing before university sermons;' ''The Psalter, or Canticles and Psalms of David, Pointed for Chanting upon a New Principle'' (1856) and the ''Canticles'' (1858) went through many editions.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Elvey, Stephen 1805 births 1860 deaths English organists British male organists English composers Musicians from Canterbury Alumni of New College, Oxford 19th-century British composers 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians 19th-century organists