Stephen Samuel Stratton (19 December 1840 – 25 June 1906) was an English

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...

, organist and author.

Life

He was born in London on 19 December 1840. He was a chorister at St. Mary's Church, Ealing and studied music under

Charles Lucas Sir Charles Lucas, 1613 to 28 August 1648, was a professional soldier from Essex, who served as a Royalist cavalry leader during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Taken prisoner at the end of the First English Civil War in March 1646, he was rel ...

.Who's who in music, Henry Saxe Wyndham, 1915 He arrived in Birmingham in 1866 and became

to the ''

Birmingham Post The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...

'' in 1877, holding the post until his death. He was also a frequent contributor to the London Musical Press. He was the joint author with

James Duff Brown James Duff Brown (1862–1914) was a British librarian, information theorist, music biographer and educationalist. Most of his life was spent in London. Biography He was born in Edinburgh, but after beginning his library career in Glasgow, he ...

of ''British Musical Biography'' published in 1897.

Appointments

* Organist of St. Mary the Virgin, Soho, London * Organist of St. James' Church, Friern Barnet * Organist of

St Bartholomew's Church, Edgbaston St Bartholomew's Church, Edgbaston, also known as Edgbaston Old Church, is a parish church in the Church of England in Edgbaston, Birmingham. History The Grade II listed church is medieval, but was largely rebuilt in the 19th century. The ch ...

, Birmingham 1867 - 1875 * Organist of St. John's Church, Harborne 1875 - 1878 * Organist of the

Church of the Saviour, Birmingham The Church of the Saviour in Edward Street, Birmingham, was a liberal Unitarian church founded in 1845 for the liberal nonconformist preacher, George Dawson. It became the centre of the programme of social and municipal improvement known as th ...

1878 - 1882

Publications

* * ''British Musical Biography'', with

* ''The Life of Mendelssohn'' * ''Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, Stephen Samuel 1840 births 1906 deaths English organists British male organists English composers 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians 19th-century organists