John Stanley was born in London in January 1712. At about the age of two, he fell on a marble hearth with a china basin in his hand, an accident which left him almost blind. He began studying music at the age of seven. Under the guidance of Maurice Greene, composer and organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, he studied "with great diligence, and a success that was astonishing". At the age of eleven Stanley was appointed organist to the church All Hallows Bread Street at a salary of £20 per annum and by the age of seventeen became the youngest person ever to obtain the Bachelor of Music degree (B.Mus.) at the University of Oxford. Stanley was also an outstanding violinist. Though virtually blind, Stanley had a remarkable memory, which helped him direct many of Handel's oratorios and to enjoy music-making and card games with his many friends. If he had to accompany a new oratorio he would ask his sister-in-law to play it through just once – enough to commit it to memory. After Handel's death, in 1760 Stanley began a partnership with the composer John Christopher Smith in order to continue a series of oratorio performances at Covent Garden. For the first season Stanley composed Zimri. Stanley accompanied all the oratorios and played a concerto during each interval. On the occasion of the King's wedding in 1762 he composed a dramatic pastoral oratorio, Arcadia. In 1779 Stanley succeeded William Boyce as Master of the King's Band of musicians. In this capacity he composed many New Year and Birthday odes to the King but this music has not survived. He died at his home in Hatton Garden on 19th of May 1786 aged 74. Stanley's works include the opera Teraminta, the dramatic cantata The Choice of Hercules, twelve other cantatas with texts by John Hawkins, the oratorios Jephtha, The Fall of Egypt and Zimri and instrumental music, notably three volumes of voluntaries for organ. Some of these have been arranged in modern times for string chamber orchestra and trumpet.
