This book contains the original musical notation for Charles V. Stanford's "St Patrick's Breastplate", a classical music composition for chorus and organ in the key of G, using the words from Cecil Frances Alexander's eponymous hymn. Cecil Frances Alexander (1818 - 1895) was an Anglo-Irish poet and hymnodist. Other notable works of hers include: "Verses for Holy Seasons" (1846), "The Lord of the Forest and His Vassals" (1847), and "Hymns for Little Children" (1848). Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924) was an Irish composer, conductor, and teacher of music. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and continued his studies in Berlin and Leipzig. He was a very influential composer, responsible for making Cambridge University Musical Society an international acclaimed organisation. Stanford was also a profuse composer, producing a large corpus of work in many genres; however, he is perhaps best remembered for his Anglican choral works for church performance. His music eventually became overshadowed by that of Edward Elgar and a number of his former pupils in the 20th century. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in a modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on the history of musical notation.