THREE INTERMEZZI Op.13

Stanford studied organ and music theory at Trinity College in his native Dublin before taking up a choral scholarship at Queens' College, Cambridge at the age of 18. He graduated in 1874 and while holding the post of conductor of the university's amalgamated Musical Society Choir, he was able to make regular visits to Germany where his musical tuition continued under Reinecke. Stanford was composing steadily at this time - unpublished concertos for piano and for cello and his Symphony in Bb major was performed at the Crystal Palace in London in 1879, a year before the Three Intermezzi were first performed when the composer was 28.

Stanford is now best known for his church music composed squarely in the Anglican tradition, and his seven symphonies, nine operas and numerous other works are now largely forgotten, eclipsed by his contemporary Elgar and by his students at the Royal College of Music, where he was Professor of composition from its opening in 1883 until his death. They include Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, John Ireland, Herbert Howells,
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Sir Arthur Bliss, Frank Bridge - the list goes on. Some of Stanford's smaller scale and more intimate works have endured better, amongst them the Three Intermezzi, Op.13. Probably for commercial reasons, the publisher insisted on versions for violin and cello, but the composer clearly intended the work for the clarinet. In that, he anticipated Brahms' famous clarinet Trio, Quintet and two Sonatas by at least ten years.

This edition was prepared by the internationally acclaimed clarinettist Colin Bradbury from the first edition of 1880 published by Novello. He has corrected printing errors and changed some notation to conform with modern practice. The first intermezzo (Andante espressivo), in 3/4 time, is lyrical and introspective, balanced by a more lively, staccato middle section in 2/4 . The first fifty three bars of the second are marked 'Allegro agitato' but this tempo gives way to 'Tranquillo' for the remaining hundred bars. Intermezzo No. III consists of seventy bars marked 'Allegretto scherzando' - playful at the beginning but becoming more thoughtful from bar twenty two to the end.

• No.II Allegro agitato - Tranquillo
• No.III Allegretto scherzando, largamente, cantabile

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