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New Zealand composer David Farquhar, 79, was a former professor of music at Victoria University who told his students "music should entertain".
Farquhar, who died after a long illness, was born in Cambridge and began composing at the age of 11. He was educated at Canterbury and Victoria Universities and then Cambridge University and the London Guildhall in England. In 1953 he joined the music department of Victoria University and was appointed professor in 1976, retiring in 1993.
He was founder-president of the Composers' Association of New Zealand and in 2004 was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music.
