Sir George Alexander Macfarren was an English composer and musicologist. He studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and later became a teacher in the same institute. In 1875 he was appointed professor of music at Cambridge University and the following year became director of R.A.M. Among his most relevant compositions are Don Quixote (1846), Robin Hood (1860) She Stoops to Conquer (1864) and Helvellyn (1864); sacred music; choirs; Romance; symphonies, among others.