With a profound interest in opera, he wrote The Devil’s Opera (1838), a work well thought of in its day. He became conductor at Covent Garden in 1845 and began to write opera in earnest; but many fell by the wayside due to bad theatre management and bankruptcy. One of his successes, however, was King Charles II, presented at the Princess’s Theatre in 1849, with Loder conducting. This work followed the style of 18^th Century ballad opera tradition. It was reviewed in The Times by his friend J.W. Davison, stating ‘Perhaps, of all our native musicians, Mr Macfarren is the one who has most highly and variously distinguished himself’.

Macfarren wrote a string of operas, the best remembered of which was Robin Hood (1860), which played for a long season. The Carl Rosa opera company took an interest in the work and put it in their repertoire. 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. The name of Macfarren never matched the fame bestowed on Balfe, Wallace, or Benedict because he, an academic, had little entrepreneurial flair to promote himself. In later years his cantatas and oratorios would become popular with provincial festivals, like Leeds and Birmingham.

By 1860, blindness had become a problem for the composer yet it never dampened his enthusiasm for composition. 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 composed. He was knighted in 1883 on the same day as Arthur Sullivan and George Grove.

Victorian Opera Northwest plans to record Macfarren's Robin Hood. See here for details of the opera. This will be the first recording of any Macfarren opera and, in fact, little of his work has been recorded other than a few songs and clarinet pieces, the overture "Chevy Chase" on Helios CDH55088 and his symphonies nos. 4 and 7 on CPO 999 433.

A chapter on Macfarren may be found in George Biddlecombe's English opera from 1834 to 1864 with particular reference to the works of Michael Balfe, New York: Garland Publishing, 1994. He is also the main subject of the chapter "Musical Nationalism in English Romantic Opera" in the The Lost Chord: Essays on Victorian Music, edited by Nicholas Temperley, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989.  The Journal of the British Music Society, Volume 8 included an article by Maxwell W. Pettit on "Sir George Macfarland; the Compleat Victorian", see http://www.musicweb.uk.net/BMS/index.htm  for contact details.

More generally, The Romantic Age 1800-1914, edited by Nicholas Temperley, London: Athlone Press, 1981, reissued as The Blackwell History of Music in Britain, Vol.5, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988 includes a chapter by Michael Hurd on "Opera: 1830-1865".

The libretto of Macfarren's Robin Hood  will shortly be available from Raymond Walker, Chairman of Victorian Opera Northwest.  Please contact Raymond at raymondwalker@talktalk.net.