Without the major tie of services and practices at St Paul's, the unremitting pressure of work on Stainer's daily existence was lifted. The house in Oxford was comfortably situated, close to the university and the Bodleian, and, though he was still called away for college inspections – in 1889 he visited thirty-eight of the forty-three teacher-training institutions – there was more time to devote to composition, scholarship, the publication of the ever expanding series of Novello primers and the third edition of the Dictionary of Musical Terms. There was also more freedom for him and his wife (and his children if they chose to accompany them) to visit the Continent for relaxation. Mentone, a favourite resort for the British (as reflected in the many British-named hotels there), especially during the winter months, was often favoured by Stainer, who found the warmer climes more conducive to his declining health. In 1889, however, he chose to visit southern Germany, first to hear Parsifal at Bayreuth, and then to witness the famous Domspatzen in Regensburg (Ratisbon), renowned for its singing of polyphony, plainchant and its role in the Cecilian movement (notably with scholars such as Haberl and Proske). Indeed Stainer much admired the Ratisbon edition of plainchant and retained a scepticism about the new hegemony of performance doctrine that was now being promulgated by Solesmes:

On 1 March 1889 the death of his old friend and colleague W. H. Monk was announced, and just over a month later came the sad news of Ouseley's death on 6 April in Hereford. One of Ouseley's greatest concerns before his death had been the welfare and continuance of his foundation at Tenbury, which had never been properly endowed and had largely relied on regular subventions from its founder.