Alexander Mackenzie (composer)
Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (born August 22, 1847 in Edinburgh , † April 28, 1935 in London ) was a Scottish composer and conductor and from 1888 to 1924 director of the Royal Academy of Music .
Life
Mackenzie's father (1819-1857), who also had the first name Alexander, was a violinist and conductor at the Theater Royal in Edinburgh and gave his son his first music lessons. In 1857 the ten year old was sent to the princely orchestra in Sondershausen , led by Eduard Stein , for further musical training . There he spent the next five years in the care of the town musician August Bartel. He attended secondary school; He received special musical lessons from the concert master and renowned violinist Karl Wilhelm Uhlrich (violin) and from the conductor Stein himself (theory). He was allowed to play a second violin in the orchestra and take part in celebrated performances by Liszt , Wagner and Berlioz . From 1862 he continued his studies as a scholarship holder at the Royal Academy of Music in London, among others with Prosper Sainton , before returning to Edinburgh after graduating in 1865. There he worked as a teacher, conductor and cantor of St George's Church. From the 1870s he found increasing attention as a composer; so in 1878 Hans von Bülow performed his overture Cervantes in Glasgow.
For health reasons, Mackenzie lived mainly in Florence from 1879 , where he mainly devoted himself to composition, but also repeatedly traveled to England to perform his works. In 1888 he was appointed director of the Royal Academy of Music and held this important position in English musical life, in which he worked not only as a composer, but also as a teacher and conductor, until 1924.
On February 27, 1895 he was raised to the nobility as a Knight Bachelor and on June 3, 1922 as Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order .
plant
Mackenzie's late Romantic compositional work includes 5 operas as well as oratorios and choral cantatas. There are also orchestral works, including a violin concerto, some of which are programmatic or national in character, e.g. B. three Scottish Rhapsodies and a Scottish Concerto for Piano . Mackenzie also wrote chamber music, piano works and songs.
In 1927 Mackenzie's memoirs were published under the title A Musician's Narrative by Cassell in London.
literature
- Friedrich Blume (Ed.): Music in the past and present . 1st edition. 1949-1986
- Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Campbell . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 17 : Lord Chamberlain - Mecklenburg . London 1911, p. 251 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
- Works by and about Alexander Mackenzie in the catalog of the German National Library
- Kurzbiografie (English)
- Entries at Klassika.info
- Sheet music and audio files by Alexander Mackenzie (composer) in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mackenzie, A Musician's Narrative, Chapters 2 and 3; Duncan J. Barker (2001): Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Campbell. Grove Music Online. Retrieved July 25, 2020 (limited preview, subscription access required)
- ^ Knights and Dames: MA-MIF . Leigh Rayment's Peerage
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mackenzie, Alexander |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Campbell (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 22, 1847 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edinburgh |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 28, 1935 |
| Place of death | London |