Stewart Macpherson (1865–1941) was a musical educator and composer, born in Liverpool, England.
He went first to the City of London School, then winning the Sterndale Bennett open scholarship. After that, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1880 and studied composition under Sir G. A. Macfarren and piano under Walter Macfarren.
Stewart Macpherson’s record in this school was a brilliant one, for he won the Balfe Scholarship in 1882, the Charles Lucas medal for composition in 1884, and the Potter Exhibition prize in 1885. On completing his course in 1887, he was made professor of composition and harmony and elected an associate of the institution, being advanced to the rank of Fellow in 1892.
In 1885 he became organist of the Immanuel Church of Streatham Common, and from 1885 to 1902 he conducted the Westminster Orchestral Society, an institution that has done much good work in bringing out works by English composers. He also conducted the Streatham Choral Society from 1886 to 1904. In 1898 he became an examiner to the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music, in which position he has visited Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, and South Africa.
In 1903 Stewart Macpherson became professor of composition at the Royal Normal College for the Blind, and was appointed a member of the Board of Musical Studies at the University of London. He is also a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, and a member of the Philharmonic Society of London. Among his theoretical works widely known in Great Britain are Practical Harmony, which has been translated into German; Appendix to Practical Harmony; Practical Counterpoint; Three Hundred and Fifty Exercises in Harmony; Counterpoint and Modulation; and Rudiments of Music.
In 1907, Stewart Macpherson was engaged with the publication of Form in Music, which it is expected will appear early in 1908. Among his musical compositions may be mentioned the fine mass in D for soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra; the violin concerto in G minor; the ballade for orchestra; the nocturne and idyll for orchestra; many songs; piano pieces; and church services. Stewart Macpherson died in London on 27 March 1941, at the age of 75.
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