SADIE, Stanley (John) 1930–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born October 30, 1930, in Wembley, Middlesex, England; died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis March 21, 2005, in Cossington, England. Editor, music critic, and author. Sadie is best remembered as the editor responsible for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, a volume considered the bible in its field. A Cambridge University alumnus, he earned his B.A. and Mus.B. in 1953, followed by a master's degree in 1957 and a Ph.D. in 1958. During his early career, Sadie was a music critic for the London Times, and was also a lecturer at the Trinity College of Music from 1957 to 1965. Leaving teaching behind, he became an editor for the Musical Times in 1967 and remained there through 1987. Sadie made his distinctive mark on music history after accepting the job of editor for the sixth edition of Grove's dictionary of music. Tracing its roots back to the nineteenth century, when the reference book was first compiled by Sir George Grove, the dictionary still focused on western music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the time Sadie took over. Sadie, however, had more ambitious plans. Heading a team of dozens of researchers and writers, he compiled and contributed to an expanded, twenty-volume resource that contains entries on music and musicians from all over the world, and includes modern musical forms such as pop and jazz. The changes were so extensive that the dictionary was re-christened The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980). Sadie continued work on this project for many years, issuing a second edition in 2001 that encompasses twenty-nine volumes. He also edited such guides as The History of Opera (1990), the four-volume The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music (2000). In addition to his editorial work Sadie, whose favorite period was the eighteenth century, was the author of works about composers, such as Handel (1962), Mozart (1966), Beethoven (1967), and Handel Concertos (1972). Named a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, his interest in music history also led to his role in preserving Handel's home in London. At the time of his death, Sadie had just completed a book about the early life of Mozart.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2005, p. B12.

New York Times, March 23, 2005, p. A20.

Times (London, England), March 23, 2005, p. 61.

Washington Post, March 24, 2005, p. B6.