Macfarren, George (Alexander) (1813–1887)

English composer and educationist. He edited works by Purcell and Handel and was principal of the Royal College of Music, London from 1876.

A pupil of C Lucas from 1827, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1829 and became a professor there in 1834 and principal in 1876. In 1845 he married the German contralto and translator Natalia Andrae (1828–1916). In the 1870s his eyesight began to fail and he eventually became blind, but he continued to work at composition and to teach.

Works Opera The Devil's Opera (1838), The Adventures of Don Quixote (after Cervantes, 1846), King Charles II (1849), Robin Hood (1860), Jessy Lea (1863), She Stoops to Conquer (after Goldsmith, 1864), The Soldier's Legacy, Helvellyn; masque Freya's Gift; oratorios St John the Baptist (1873), The Resurrection (1876), Joseph (1877), King David.

Other cantatas Emblematical Tribute on the Queen's Marriage (1840), The Sleeper Awakened, Lenora, May Day, Christmas, The Lady of the Lake (after Scott, 1876); much church music; symphony in F minor and seven others (1831–74), overtures to Shakespeare's Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice, Schiller's Don Carlos (1842), overture Chevy Chase and other orchestral works; violin concerto; five string quartets and other chamber music; sonatas for various instruments.