Henry George Farmer was a British musicologist specializing in Arabic music. In his writings, he argued passionately for the strong influence of Arabic music over the musical traditions of Europe

Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe

Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe were numerous, affecting such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, and technology. From the 11th to 13th centuries, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic civilization...

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He was born in Ireland, where his father (also named Henry George Farmer, d. 1900) was serving in the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment

Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment

The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot...

 of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. He was the only participant in the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music

Cairo Congress of Arab Music

The Congrès du Caire was a large international symposium and festival convened in Cairo from March 14 to April 3, 1932 by King Fuad I...

 from the United Kingdom. He also wrote about Turkish, Scottish, and Irish music, as well as British military music.

A collection of Farmer's papers is housed at the Special Collections Department of the Glasgow University Library at the University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

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Books

• Farmer, Henry George (1912). The Rise & Development of Military Music. London: W. Reeves.
• Farmer, Henry George (1925). The Arabic Musical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library: A Descriptive Catalogue With Illustrations of Musical Instruments. London: W. Reeves.
• Farmer, Henry George (1925). The Arabian Influence on Musical Theory. London: H. Reeves.
• Farmer, Henry George (1925). Byzantine Musical Instruments in the Ninth Century. London: Harold Reeves.
• Farmer, Henry George (1929). A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth Century. London: Luzac & Co.
• Farmer, Henry George (1930). Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence. Ayer Publishing. ISBN 040508496X.
• Farmer, Henry George (1931). The Organ of the Ancients, From Eastern Sources (Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic). London: W. Reeves.
• Farmer, Henry George (1939). Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments. Glasgow: The Civic Press.
• Farmer, Henry George (1940). The Sources of Arabian Music: An Annotated Bibliography of Arabic Manuscripts Which Deal With the Theory, Practice, and History of Arabian Music. Bearsden, Scotland, issued privately by the author.
• Farmer, Henry George (1945). Concerts in 18th Century Scotland. J.C. Erskine.
• Farmer, Henry George (1945). The Glen Collection of Musical Instruments. Glasgow.
• Farmer, Henry George (1945). The Minstrelsy of The Arabian Nights: A Study of Music and Musicians in the Arabic Alf laila wa laila. Bearsden, Scotland (issued privately).
• Farmer, Henry George (1947). A History of Music in Scotland. Hinrichsen Edition. ISBN 0306718650.
• Farmer, Henry George (1950). Music Making in the Olden Days: The Story of the Aberdeen Concerts, 1748-1801. New York: Peters-Hinrichsen Edition.
• Farmer, Henry George (1951). Cavaliere Zavertal and the Royal Artillery Band. London: Hinrichsen Edition, lcd., Museum House
• Farmer, Henry George (1953). Oriental Studies, Mainly Musical. London, New York: Hinrichsen Edition.
• Farmer, Henry George (1954). History of the Royal Artillery Band, 1762-1953. London: Royal Artillery Institution.
• Farmer, Henry George (1955). The Song Captions in the Kitab al-aghani al-kabir. London: H. Baron.
• Farmer, Henry George (1959). Bernard Shaw's Sister and Her Friends: A New Angle on G.B.S. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
• Farmer, Henry George (1965). Handel's Kettledrums, and Other Papers on Military Music. London: Hinrichsen.
• Farmer, Henry George (1959). The Science of Music in the Mafatih Al-Ulum. Reprinted from the Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental Society, v. 17.
• Farmer, Henry George (1965). Al-Farabi's Arabic-Latin Writings on Music in the Ihsa al-`ulum. New York: Hinrichsen Edition.
• Farmer, Henry George (1965). British Bands in Battle. New York, London: Hinrichsen.

Articles

• Farmer, Henry George (1925). "The Influence of Music: From Arabic Sources." Proceedings of the Musical Association, 52nd Session, pp. 89–124.
• Farmer, Henry George (1928). "'Turkoman Music'" (letter to the editor). The Musical Times
  The Musical Times
  The Musical Times is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It is currently the oldest such journal that is still publishing in the UK, having been published continuously since 1844. It was published as The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular until...
  
  , v. 69, no. 1027 (September 1928), p. 833.
• Farmer, Henry George (1929). "Music in Mediæval Scotland." Proceedings of the Musical Association, 56th Session, pp. 69–90.
• Farmer, Henry George (1930). "Greek Theorists of Music in Arabic Translation." Isis, v. 13, no. 2 (February 1930), pp. 325–333.
• Farmer, Henry George (1930). "Orchestral Drum-Names" (letter to the editor). The Musical Times, v. 71, no. 1050 (August 1930), p. 740.
• Farmer, Henry George (1931). "A Sample of Musical Biography" (letter to the editor). The Musical Times, v. 72, no. 1063 (September 1931), p. 833.
• Farmer, Henry George (1931). British Musicians a Century Ago. Music & Letters, v. 12, no. 4 (October 1931), pp. 384–392.
• Farmer, Henry George (1936). "A Forgotten Composer of Anthems: William Savage (1720-89)." Music & Letters v. 17, no. 3 (July 1936), pp. 188–199.
• Farmer, Henry George (1939). "Unknown Birthdays of Some Georgian Musicians." Music & Letters, v. 20, no. 3 (July 1939), pp. 299–303.
• Farmer, Henry George (1943). "Some Notes on the Irish Harp." Music & Letters, v. 24, no. 2 (April 1943), pp. 100–107.
• Farmer, Henry George (1945). "An Historic March." Music & Letters, v. 26, no. 3 (July 1945), pp. 172–177.
• Farmer, Henry George (1946). "'Ghosts': An Excursus on Arabic Musical Bibliographies." Isis, v, 36, no. 2 (January 1946), pp. 123–130.
• Farmer, Henry George (1949). "Crusading Martial Music." Music & Letters, v. 30, no. 3 (July 1949), pp. 243–249.
• Farmer, Henry George (1949). "Music Down Below." The Musical Times, v. 90, no. 1279 (September 1949), pp. 307–309.
• "Henry George Farmer. Birr man recalls sixty years of a town's musical traditions." Midland Tribune, 17 June 1961.
• Farmer, Henry George (1962). "Monster Kettledrums." Music & Letters, v. 43, no. 2 (April 1962), pp. 129–130.
• Farmer, Henry George (1962). "ʿAbdalqādir ibn Ġaibī on Instruments of Music." Oriens, v. 15 (December 1962), pp. 242–248.

External links

• Henry George Farmer collection
• Henry George Farmer papers