The prolific composer and Scotsman, George Alexander Macfarren (1813-1887), composed eight symphonies as well as overtures, oratorios and operas, including
Robin Hood. A pupil of Cipriani Potter he founded the Society of British Musicians (1834) and the Handel Society (1844). In 1845 he became conductor at Covent Garden, and from 1875 he was principal of the Royal Academy of Music and professor of music at Cambridge, both in succession to Sterndale Bennett. His overture
Chevy Chase was conducted by Mendelssohn and Wagner. His ambition to be a successful opera composer was not fulfilled, though he showed genuine promise in dramatic writing. Most of his small corpus of organ works appeared in the
Organist’s Quarterly Journal, the best of these being his
Variations on the Psalm Tune ‘Windsor’.
from notes by Graham Barber © 2003
