One of the most prolific composers of the nineteenth century, Sir George Alexander Macfarren (1813–87) produced operas, symphonies, and instrumental and choral works, and is remembered today for the overture Chevy Chace. Son of the London impresario George Macfarren, he studied composition with Cipriani Potter at the Royal Academy of Music, becoming a professor there in 1837. Despite encroaching blindness, which became total in 1860, he remained at the centre of British musical life, continuing to compose, lecture, write and teach. Following the death of William Sterndale Bennett in 1875, he became professor of music at Cambridge and principal of the Royal Academy of Music. Reissued here is the 1882 third edition of a series of lectures on harmony delivered at the Royal Institution in 1867, intended to enhance the amateur listener's musical appreciation. They are based on Alfred Day's controversial Treatise on Harmony (also reissued in this series).
