Ernest Farrar

Ernest Bristow Farrar (7 July 1885 – 18 September 1918) was an English composer, pianist and organist. Life Ernest Farrar was born in Lewisham, London, but moved in 1887 to Micklefield in Yorkshire, where his father was a clergyman. The rest of his life was very much centred in the north of England. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School, where he began organ studies. His studies at Durham University did not progress beyond his matriculation. In May 1905 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. There he studied with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Walter Parratt and began friendships with Frank Bridge and Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer. He also took up several posts as organist in All Saints’ Dresden, St Hilda’s, South Shields and Christ Church, High Harrogate. At Harrogate, he worked closely with local conductor Julian Clifford and took on the 14-year-old Gerald Finzi as a composition pupil. His name is one of the 38 on the War Memorial at the Royal College of Music. Works and legacy Despite his short life, Farrar wrote a large body of music for orchestra, voices and organ. His works include The Blessed Damozel, a Celtic Suite and the song cycle Vagabond Songs. Two orc