A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Graham, George

GRAHAM, George Farquhar, son of Lieut.-Col. Humphrey Graham, was born in Edinburgh in 1790 [App. p.654 "Dec. 29, 1789"] and educated in the High School and University there. He studied music as an amateur, and was to a great degree self-taught. In 1815 he and George Hogarth acted as joint secretaries of the first Edinburgh Musical Festival, and in the next year Graham published 'An Account of the First Edinburgh Musical Festival, to which is added Some General Observations on Music.' He passed some years in Italy in pursuit of musical knowledge. He composed and published some ballads, and contributed the article 'Music' to the 7th edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' The article was reprinted separately in 1838, with the addition of an Introduction and Appendix under the title of 'An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Musical Composition.' About the same time he assisted in bringing out the 'Skene MS.,' and contributed an interesting paper to the appendix. [See Dauney.] He wrote the article 'Organ' for the 8th edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' In 1848–9 he furnished historical, biographical, and critical notices to 'The Songs of Scotland, adapted to their appropriate melodies.' He died in Edinburgh, March 12, 1867.

[ W. H. H. ]