Conducted by CYRIL DALMAINE
THE Macfarren family was a distinguished one. George, the elder, was a dramatist, and he had two sons, George and Walter. George Macfarren, who became Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, and who was knighted in 1883, was born in 1813. Practically his whole career was connected with the Royal Academy, for he was first a student then a professor there, before becoming head of it. He composed a good deal, hut though he had some success at the time with an opera called Robin Hood , he is principally remembered by choral societies for his popular cantata May Day, which dates from 1856. His work as a teacher was distinguished in spite of the fact that in later life he became totally blind.