Henry George Farmer


The British musicologist and Arabist, Henry George Farmer studied under Thomas Hunter Weir, Professor of Oriental Languages at University of Glasgow. He wrote extensively about Arab musical influences on the European musical tradition and the Islamic legacy to music theory.
Farmer was born in Crinkill Barracks, near Birr, Offaly, Ireland, where his father, also Henry George Farmer, was stationed with the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment of the British Army. His mother, Mary Ann Harling, was related to Afflecks and Allans of Scotland. Henry grew up in a disciplinarian family and part of an Anglo-Irish community in the Irish Midlands. By age seven he began studying piano, choral singing and harmony. The organist and choirmaster Vincent Sykes tutored him. The Farmers were originally from Berkshire and had several musical connections. In 1888 Henry George visited relatives in Nottingham who owned a music warehouse. An earlier Henry Farmer had composed popular liturgy - Mass in B-flat and concertos. His nephew was John Farmer, also a music teacher, organist and composer.
Farmer represented Britain at the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music and wrote on a wide range of topics from Turkish, Scottish and Irish musical traditions, including British military music. He contributed generously to Grove's Dictionary of Music . He died in Law, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, aged 83.
A collection of Farmer's papers is housed at the Special Collections Department of the Glasgow University Library at the University of Glasgow.

Books