After studying at the college for 6 years he taught
for a while at a school in the Isle of Man
before returning as a professor of the Academy in 1837. He resigned from the
post 10 years later when criticized for teaching Alfred Day's theory of
harmony, then openly condemned by other professorial colleagues. Macfarren was
instrumental in helping found the Society of British Musicians in 1834, and
later the Handel Society in 1844. However, his first love was opera and after
three abortive attempts, he wrote The
Devil's Opera (1838), a work well thought of in its day,
which he followed up with Don
Quixote, which,
was not performed until 1846 because
of a lack of opportunity caused
by poor theatre management and bankruptcy, factors
which cause the abandonment of several
of his operas.
One of his successes,
however, was King Charles II,
presented at the Princess's Theatre in 1849, with Edward Loder conducting. Unusually,
for the time, it was
almost completely through-composed. The
review in The Times by his friend
J.W. Davison, stated "Perhaps, of all our native musicians, Mr Macfarren is
the one who has most highly and variously distinguished himself".
In
the early 1860's, Macfarren
wrote a string of operas, the best remembered of which was Robin Hood (1860), which played for two seasons
and later had a modest success on the touring circuit. To
many, Robin Hood was a milestone in
the development of a recognized English idiom that depicted rustic charm, just
as German's Merrie England would 50 years later. In the work, the
soloists are musically wedded to their strengths of character and a part song
echoes the old English glee. The Grove Dictionary of Music notes that
"Macfarren's handling of the orchestra is bright, uncluttered and masculine;
his brass writing is notably good, being less garish than Wallace's and more
confident than Sullivan's". Macfarren followed Robin Hood with She
Stoops to Conquer and Helvellyn and two
comic chamber operas, Jessy Lea and The
Soldier's Legacy, which almost certainly influenced
Sullivan in his later partnership with Gilbert.
Macfarren never matched the fame
bestowed on Balfe, Wallace, or Benedict because he lacked their talent for easy
melody. Always afflicted with poor eyesight, by 1860, he
had become too blind to write his compositions and
had to use an amanuensis but it never
dampened his enthusiasm for composition. In later years, his cantatas and
oratorios became popular with provincial festivals, such as Leeds, Norwich and Birmingham. In 1875 he succeeded Sterndale Bennett
as professor of music at Cambridge and as principal of the RAM. Up to the end of his life, he continued to
write, lecture and compose. He was knighted in 1883 on the same day as Arthur
Sullivan and George Grove.
Victorian
Opera Northwest's recording
of Macfarren's Robin
Hood has
been released on Naxos
8.660306-07.
Further details on the recording may be found here.
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His
overture to She stoops to conquer
is included in the Victorian
Opera Northwest recording of a number
of Victorian English opera
overtures on SOMM
CD 0123 : British Opera Overtures.
More detail on the content
can be found
here.
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A
full list of recordings of Macfarren's
works can be found
here
The
only biography of Macfarren is that
by Henry C. Banister, George
Alexander Macfarren: his life, works
and influence, London: George
Bell and Sons, 1891. Available
online at
http://www.archive.org
A
list of other articles and book
chapters on Macfarren can be found
here.
There is a good summary of his life
and works on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Alexander_Macfarren
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