Biography
George Alexander Macfarren was born in London in 1813 and studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1829, including composition with Cipriani Potter. In 1837 he became professor of harmony and composition there and, from 1845, also conducted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He became completely blind in the 1860s but continued composing with the help of an amanuensis, writing operas including Robin Hood (1860) and Helvellyn (1864). From the mid-1870s he headed the Royal Academy of Music while also serving as professor of music at Cambridge; he was knighted in 1883. Macfarren died in London in 1887; his theoretical writings, such as Rudiments of Harmony, proved more influential than most of his compositions.
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