Fletcher, Stanley (1910-1988) | University of Illinois Archives

Stanley Fletcher (1910-1988) was born in Manchester, England. He moved with his parents to Springfield, MA in 1922, where he received his early musical training. Graduating with a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan in 1933, Fletcher studied piano under Guy Maier. Prior to graduating, he briefly studied with Artur Schnabel in Berlin, documenting his experience in the Springfield Union newspaper. After returning to the US, he began a masters degree program at his alma mater. In the summer of 1934, Fletcher taught piano at the National Music Camp at Interlochen. That fall he was a graduate fellow at the University of Michigan, performing as a finalist at the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Naumberg Piano competitions. In 1935 he won the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship at the University of Illinois and joined the piano faculty two years later.

During his time as a professor, Fletcher gave regular concert recitals, performing at New York Town Hall in 1944. He collaborated with fellow School of Music faculty member and violinist Paul Rolland, creating a series of manuals for teaching string techniques to children in a project called the Illinois String Research Project. Fletcher also composed and arranged several pedagogical collections of piano music to critical acclaim. As a performer, Fletcher was commended as an outstanding exponent of Chopin, Beethoven, contemporary music, and chamber music. In 1966, his collaboration with composer Gordon Binkerd led to a recording of Binkerd's Sonata for Piano, which was released by Composers Performing Inc. Throughout his career, he was an active member of the Music Teachers National Association and he received major honors not only for his work as a concert artist, but also for his scholarly contributions to musical journals on the subject of music education.

Upon retirement in 1971, Fletcher devoted himself to composing; the best known of his compositions is his folk opera, the Five Dollar Opera, first performed in El Paso, Texas. Fletcher died in 1988 in Albuquerque, NM.

From liner notes for CRI LP record Gordon Binkard Sonata for Piano (1955), newworldrecords.org.

Albert Dale Harrison "A History of the University of Illinois School of Music, 1940-1970," EdD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1986, 82-85.