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Composers Biography                                                   
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William Sterndale Bennett

(1816 - 1875)
 

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William Sterndale Bennett Life


English composer who wrote most of his works while he was studying in Leipzig where he became a close friend of Robert Schumann and Mendelssohn.

Bennett’s popularity as a composer was short-lived as he later devoted himself to his work as a professor of music at the University of Cambridge and then as the Principal of the Royal Academy of Music.

William Sterndale Bennett Works

 

Although Bennett’s works have been largely forgotten, there is now some renewed interest in his piano music.

Out of his five piano concertos the third and fourth are a good introduction to his music. The former has a romantic slow movement and the latter a Barcarole (Gondolier's Song) slow movement, inserted at the suggestion of Mendelssohn.

Bennett’s songs remain an important example of the genre in mid-19th century England