Alexander Mackenzie (composer)

best known for his oratorios, violin and piano pieces and works for the stage.

Life and career

Mackenzie was the son of an eminent Edinburgh violinist and conductor. On the advice of a member of Gungls band who had taken up his residence in Edinburgh, Mackenzie was sent for his musical education to Sondershausen, Germany, where he entered the conservatorium under Ulrich and Stein, remaining there from 1857 to 1861, when he entered the ducal orchestra as a violinist. At this time he made Liszt's acquaintance.

Early career

On his return to Edinburgh in 1865, he won the King's Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and studied with Prosper Sainton (violin), Charles Lucas (composition) and Frederick Jewson (piano). He then established himself as a teacher of the piano in Edinburgh. He also performed as a violinist, taking part in Chappells quartette concerts and starting a set of classical concerts.

Mackenzie was appointed precentor of St. George's Church in 1870, and conductor of the Scottish vocal music association in 1873, at the same time undertaking a prodigious amount of teaching. He kept in touch with his old friends by playing in the orchestras of the Birmingham Festivals from 1864 to 1873. The most important compositions of this period of Mackenzie's life were the "Quartette in E flat" for piano and strings, and an overture, "Cervantes", which owed its first performance to the encouragement and help of the pianist Hans von Bülow.

On the advice of von Bülow, in 1879 Mackenzie gave up his Edinburgh appointments and settled in Florence, Tuscany, where he remained until 1888, to concentrate on composing. The cantatas "The Bride" (Worcester, 1881) and "Jason" (Bristol, 1882) belong to this time, as well as his first opera, "Colomba". This was commissioned for the Carl Rosa Company and was written to a libretto prepared by Franz Hueffer. The opera premiered successfully in 1883 and was to be followed by four other operas. The second was "The Troubadour", produced by the same company in 1886.

Peak years

In 1884, his oratorio "Rose of Sharon" was given with success at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, and in 1885 he was appointed conductor of Novello's oratorio concerts. "The Story of Sayid" came out at the Leeds Festival of 1886, and in 1888 he succeeded as principal of the Royal Academy of Music, a post he held until 1924. "The Dream of Jubal" was produced at Liverpool in 1889, and in London very soon afterwards. A setting of the hymn "Veni, Creator Spiritus" was given at Birmingham in 1891, and the oratorio "Bethlehem" premiered in 1894. From 1892 to 1899, he also conducted the Philharmonic Concerts. Mackenzie was knighted in 1894.

Mackenzie wrote three more operas. The first was "His Majesty", a comic opera in the Gilbert and Sullivan vein, with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and R. C. Lehmann (and additional lyrics by Adrian Ross, which was presented at the Savoy Theatre in 1897. [ [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/other_savoy/his_majesty/his_majesty_home.html His Majesty Home Page ] at math.boisestate.edu] "The Cricket on the Hearth" (1901) and "The Eve of St. John" (1925) were the others. None of the operas enjoyed the lasting popularity that some of Mackenzie's other music did.

In addition to the works mentioned above, Mackenzie wrote incidental music to plays, including "Ravenswood", J. M. Barrie's "The Little Minister", and "Coriolanus", and concertos and other works for violin and orchestra, much orchestral music, and many songs and violin pieces. According to the "Encyclopaedia Britannica", Sir Edward Elgar's growth as a composer owed a debt to Mackenzie's music.

Mackenzie's memoirs, "A Musician's Narrative," were published by Cassell, London, in 1927. The romantic side of music appealed most to Mackenzie, and the cases in which he conformed to the classical conventions were the rarest. In the orchestral ballad "La Belle Dame sans Merci", he touched a note of pathos, and in the nautical overture "Britannia", his sense of humour was revealed. In the two Scottish Rhapsodies for orchestra, in the music to "The Little Minister", and in a beautiful fantasia for pianoforte and orchestra on Scottish themes, he seized the essential, not the accidental features of his native music.

He died in London.

References

*1911

External links

* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/mackenzie/index.htm Discussion of violin pieces]
* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/mackenzie/scottish.htm Discussion of piano pieces]
* [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/M/MackenzieAlexander.htm Profile of Mackenzie]
* [http://www.ram.ac.uk/museum/dh-portraits.htm Another profile of Mackenzie]
*IMSLP|id=Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Campbell|cname=Alexander Mackenzie