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 "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.