author

Stephen S. (Stephen Samuel) Stratton

1840–1906

An English music critic, organist, and author, he spent decades shaping Birmingham’s musical life while writing with unusual range and curiosity. He is especially remembered for co-authoring British Musical Biography and for books on Mendelssohn and Paganini.

1 Audiobook

Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work

Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work

by Stephen S. (Stephen Samuel) Stratton

About the author

Born in London in 1840, he began his musical life as a chorister at St. Mary's Church in Ealing and studied under Charles Lucas. After moving to Birmingham in 1866, he built a long career there as both a church organist and a central voice in the city's musical culture.

From 1877 until his death in 1906, he served as music critic for the Birmingham Post and also contributed to the London musical press. Alongside his journalism, he wrote and edited substantial musical works, including the jointly written British Musical Biography with James Duff Brown, as well as books on Felix Mendelssohn and Nicolo Paganini.

His career joined practical music-making with lively, informed writing, which helps explain why his name still appears in music history and reference works today. The surviving sources consistently portray him as a committed figure in English musical life rather than only a commentator on it.