George Alexander Macfarren

Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, who later became the editor of the Musical World, and Elizabeth Macfarren, née Jackson. At the age of seven, Macfarren was sent to Dr Nicholas’s school in Ealing, where his father was dancing-master; the school numbered among its alumni John Henry Newman and Thomas Henry Huxley. His health was poor, however, and his eyesight weak, He was withdrawn from the school in 1823 to undergo a course of eye treatment. One amanuensis was composer Oliveria Prescott. On 27 September 1844, Macfarren married Clarina Thalia Andrae, Her singing translation for the finale text of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the “Ode to Joy”, became its most popular translation in England. She also composed for piano. Emma Maria Macfarren, the wife of another brother, John, was also a pianist and composer. Macfarren was knighted in 1883. and died on 31 October 1887, at his house in Hamilton Terrace, St John’s Wood. Musical career Macfarren began to study music when he was fourteen