The facility, artifice and brilliant technique of ‘I saw the Lord’, a prodigious, indeed precocious exhibition by such a young man, undoubtedly impressed Ouseley even if he may have been out of sympathy with the anthem's contemporary style. Ouseley, however, must have sensed that, for all its conducive attributes, Tenbury was too isolated a spot for Stainer to pursue his musical career and that, before long, his pupil would be looking for fresh and more advantageous opportunities elsewhere.

Such an opportunity presented itself at the end of 1859 when the post of organist and informator choristarum became vacant at Magdalen College, Oxford, after the resignation of Benjamin Blyth on 1 December, and after his assistant, E. Vine Hall, turned down the offer to replace him. The post was available through open competition. Among those who put themselves forward for consideration with appropriate testimonials were Samuel Reay (a one-time chorister of Durham Cathedral and organist of Radley College), George Mursell Garrett (formerly a chorister at New College, Oxford under Stephen Elvey, and now organist at St John's College, Cambridge) and George Benjamin Arnold (a pupil of S. S. Wesley and organist of St Mary's, Torquay). Stainer's appointment to the post was by no means a foregone conclusion. Reay (b. 1822), Arnold (b. 1832) and Garrett (b. 1834) were older, more experienced professionals and came with testimonials from eminent church musicians; next to them, Stainer, with only just over two years at Tenbury, and not even twenty years of age, must have seemed almost absurdly young to the President of Magdalen, Frederic Bulley. However, Stainer, who could already boast of an Oxford music degree, came with excellent testimonials, one of them from Ouseley who commanded respect within the University as the Professor of Music.