Unusually, my first encounter with Hamish MacCunn was not with the ubiquitous overture The Land of the Mountain and the Flood. Many years ago I discovered an attractive Valse (from Two Dances for piano, 1912) by this composer who appeared to have a name straight out of Sir Walter Scott or John Buchan. At that time, I had been reading Buchan’s novel Huntingtower written in 1922. This book featured a Glaswegian detective with the improbable name of Dickson MacCunn, so the surname at least was familiar. I looked up ‘Hamish’ (Gaelic equivalent of James) in Grove at the Glasgow Mitchell Library and discovered that he was a Greenock-born composer: like me, he was a Clydesider. It was not until a couple of years later that I came across the recording of Sir Alexander Gibson (HMV ASD 2400) conducting the legendary overture and then heard it regularly on television as the theme tune to Sutherland’s Law (1973-76). Since that time there has been a major retrospective of MacCunn’s music from Hyperion, another CD dedicated to his part-songs and a number of minor works included in various recitals. This reflects my total listening experience of Hamish MacCunn’s music: I imagine that this is the case for most enthusiasts of British music from the ‘long nineteenth century.’
Jennifer
L. Oates’ Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916): A
Musical Life serves a number of important purposes. Firstly it successfully
presents the life and works of the composer in largely chronological order.
Secondly, the book situates MacCunn’s achievement in the context of the first
stirrings of the so-called English (British) Musical Renaissance led by Parry,
Stanford and Alexander Mackenzie and soon to include composers as diverse as
Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge and eventually Britten. And finally,
there is a detailed examination of the influence of ‘Nationalism’ and of things
‘Scottish’ or the ‘Celtic Twilight’ on the composer’s achievement and ultimate
disappointment. The significance of this book is enhanced with
a complete catalogue of MacCunn’s works, an extensive bibliography and detailed
indices.
A few
biographical notes about Hamish MacCunn may be of interest. He was born at Greenock, Scotland on March 22
1868. His father was a wealthy ship-owner and his mother Barbara had once
studied piano with William Sterndale Bennett. After much musical encouragement
at home, MacCunn headed down to London to take up an open scholarship at the
Royal College of Music, aged only fifteen. He studied with Hubert Parry and
Charles Villiers Stanford. He did not
gain a degree there as he resigned the course, unimpressed with the
qualifications, the teaching (except Parry) and the attitude of the staff who
snubbed him socially.
His first
major performance was at the Crystal Palace in 1885 with the ‘Cior Mhor’:
Overture (now lost). He built on this success with three further orchestral
overtures or ballads based on Scottish topographical or literary themes: the
well-known The Land of the Mountain and the Flood, Op.3, The Ship o’ the Fiend, Op.5 and The Dowie Dens o’
Yarrow, ballad, Op.6. The same period saw performances of the
cantatas Lord Ullin's Daughter, Bonny Kilmeny,
The Lay of the Last Minstrel and The Cameronian's Dream. In 1888, aged twenty, he was
appointed Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music. The following year MacCunn married the
Scottish painter John Pettie’s (1839-1893) daughter, Alison. In 1889 the Carl Rosa Opera Company
commissioned the opera Jeannie Deans
which was first performed in 1895. This
was followed by Diarmid in 1897,
which was not a box-office success. In
1898 he became conductor with the Carl Rosa Company and also held posts with
the Moody-Manners and the Beecham Companies. MacCunn taught composition at the
Guildhall School of Music from 1912 until his early death on August 2 1916,
aged only 48.
Hamish MacCunn’s romantic-sounding music, which also includes
songs, part-songs and piano pieces, owes much to Mendelssohn, Grieg, Dvorak and
Wagner in its style. The earlier works are marked by a considerable use of
Scottish literary themes and musical devices. Later compositions tended to
explore a wider range of inspiration, but towards the end of his life MacCunn
began to rediscover his Celtic roots once more.
Hamish MacCunn
(1868-1916): A Musical Life fills an important gap in the history of British
music. Readers have been overwhelmed with volumes dedicated to exploring every
detail of the life and times of Edward Elgar. Fewer books have been written
about Parry and Stanford; however their accomplishments have been re-evaluated
in recent years. The group of Scottish composers who feature in the
‘renaissance’ have been largely ignored. There are no studies in print (a few
theses have been published) examining the achievement of Learmont Drysdale,
Frederic Lamond, Alexander Mackenzie, William Wallace, Hamish MacCunn and John
Blackwood McEwen.
An
examination of the literature concerning Hamish MacCunn is telling. Until 2013
there had been no major study of this composer available in print. Historically
most of the references to him had been chapters or notices in books, articles
and newspapers. The earliest substantial reference appears to be J. Cuthbert
Hadden’s article ‘Scottish Composers and Musicians: Hamish MacCunn’ in The Scottish Musical Monthly (December
1893). This is not cited in Oates’ bibliography. The first formal notification is in the
Brown-Stratton British Musical Biography
(1897) and later in the second edition of Grove (1904-10). The first major
essay is Janey Drysdale’s 'Scottish Composers: Hamish MacCunn' The Dunedin
Magazine ii no.2 (March 1914) which was based on notes provided by the
composer. Substantial references to
MacCunn appear in Farmer’s A
History of Music in Scotland (London, 1947/1970), and John Purser’s Scotland's
Music (Edinburgh, 1992). Other good sources of information
include George Bernard Shaw’s collected music criticism and A.M. Henderson’s Musical Memories (Glasgow, 1938). It is surely just
a coincidence that 2013 also saw the publication of Alasdair Jamieson’s The Music of Hamish MacCunn, Author House
UK Press. This is based on his thesis published in 2007.
The basic plan of Hamish MacCunn
(1868-1916): A Musical Life is quite straightforward. The
chapters are presented in largely chronological order. After an important
introduction there are sections on MacCunn’s early life and musical
achievements in Greenock leading to his move to London. It is facile to divide MacCunn’s career into
‘periods’ however it is convenient. As noted above, the London years between 1887-1890
were largely devoted to the orchestral works and a number of important cantatas
all based on Scottish themes. For the
next five years he was engrossed in his two major operas, Jeanie Deans and Diarmid
which forms the basis of chapters 3 and 4.
It is a generalisation to write, but not far from the truth, that by the
time he was thirty, most of his important compositional achievement was
complete. The last two chapters deal with his later works and his career as a teacher
and conductor. In this last period,
MacCunn’s music expanded into areas not directly inspired by the ‘Celtic
Twilight’. The main text concludes with a chapter entitled ‘The Potential
Saviour of Native Music: Appraisals and Conclusion.’
This book is not simply an examination of Hamish MacCunn as a
composer. A great deal of effort is put
into exploring his important contribution as a teacher and a conductor. For
example, a number of pages are devoted to the part he played in promulgating a
Scottish College of Music which did not find fulfilment until some years after
the composer’s death.
Musical
historians wishing to investigate the various stylistic and social trajectories
implicit in late 19th and early 20th century music will
find that Jennifer Oates’ book supplies useful tools to help understand the
place of Scottish art-music as seen through the prism of a London-based musical
culture often centred on South Kensington and the Crystal Palace. This detail
will be of considerable interest to cultural and political historians of the
period. Finally, the wealth of musical examples and analysis will be helpful to
performers who may be encouraged to take up Hamish MacCunn’s music in the 21st
century.
Looking at Jennifer Oates’ exposition of The Ship o’ the Fiend gives a good idea of the detailed but not forbiddingly
technical analysis of the music. She begins by comparing the work’s ethos to that
of the Mountain Flood. The earlier
work is largely ‘painted impressions’ of the Scottish landscape whereas The Ship tells the tale of the old
Scottish ballad ‘The Daemon Lover.’ She outlines the plot of this story, originally
printed in Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of
the Scottish Border. She relates this imagery to the genre of tales that
tell of a man returning from the dead to reclaim the woman he loves. The actual
version that inspired MacCunn was found in Allingham’s Ballad Book (1887). Oates then draws some similarities with
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Overture. After a largely descriptive analysis of the
music, she cites a number of early reviewers who had mixed opinions of the
work. Bernard Shaw ‘did not care for the overture’ but the Monthly Musical Record was impressed by this ‘powerful piece of
tone painting.’ There were contemporary suggestions that MacCunn should now
turn his hand to ‘abstract music’. It is an impressive study of an excellent
piece. I was pleased that she did not become highly technical in her discussion
and indulge in detailed ‘Schenkerian’ analysis of this work. This would have spoilt the broad-based, but
essentially scholarly, musico-historical appeal of this book.
Hamish MacCunn
(1868-1916): A Musical Life is a well-produced book which is typical of Ashgate
Publishers. The paper quality is good, the binding is strong and the font is
clear and readable. I am pleased that footnotes rather than endnotes have been
provided. I always read them (or at least glance at them) so I am grateful for not
constantly having to turn to the end of the chapter or book. The ‘scholarly’
nature of the argument requires many footnotes with these often taking up more
than a third of a page. A selection of
rare photographs has been included in the text rather than as a separate
section of plates: this does mean a diminution of quality. There are a number
of tables illustrating the structure of some of the music. Many musical
examples are given throughout the text which are clear and helpful in the
development of the musical analysis. Finally, there is an essential list of
abbreviations presented at the front of the book that covers ‘special
collections’ ‘journals and newspapers’ and other frequently quoted
sources. This is especially useful
bearing in mind the considerable number of references to manuscript material given
throughout the volume.
An
essential part of this book is the ‘exhaustive’ catalogue of Hamish MacCunn’s ‘Complete
Works’. Oates has wisely chosen to present this by genre and then chronologically
within the genre. I again take as an example the less-well known tone-poem The Ship O’ the Fiend. This work was
assigned Op.5 by the composer. The manuscript (MS 3365) is dated 18 June 1887
and is deposited at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. The date of
publication by Augener is not specified in this present listing: Jamieson and World Cat give it as 1890. No mention is made here of the important new
version of this score (along with Mountain
Flood and Dowie Dews edited by
Jennifer Oates in 2010). The date of the ‘Fiend’s’
premiere, 18 February 1888, at the Crystal Palace and the first Scottish
performance on 24 December 1889 are cited.
Interestingly, Jamieson (2013) writes that the premiere was at St. James’
Hall, London on 21 February 1888. I found a reference in the Morning Post (16 Feb 1888) advertising The Ship o’ the Fiend (first time of performance)
at the St. James’ Hall as Jamieson stated. The review in the contemporary Musical Times seems to confirm this
date. Oates does not give the orchestra
or conductor (in this case the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the
composer). It would have been helpful to have given orchestral ‘scoring’ and
the source of the text, although this latter is noted in the analysis of the
work. Other versions of this overture were produced including an arrangement
for piano duet by Marmaduke Burton and one for string orchestra by Adam Carse. These are not noted.
The
‘Select Bibliography’ defies the adjective in its title. Running to some 17
pages of close text this is conveniently divided into three sections: ‘Manuscript
Sources’, ‘Printed Primary Sources’ and ‘Secondary Sources’. There can be little that has been written
about Hamish MacCunn that is not detailed here.
I was
disappointed with the Discography. I would
have expected this to have been presented by ‘work’. What Oates has done is to list
all the CDs (no other media) that have been released featuring Hamish MacCunn’s
music. She has not stated what particular work(s) have been recorded. So for example, Seriously Scottish: Music from Contemporary Scotland published by
the Scottish Arts Council in 1999 has Effie’s beautiful aria ‘Sleep for the day
is done’ from Jeannie Deans alongside
38 other tracks by a diverse group of other musicians including folk and rock. The reader is required to search the internet
to find out what has been recorded on each disc. Alasdair Jamieson has not
included a discography in his book, however, there is a brief listing given in his
thesis.
The book
concludes with an excellent index which includes comprehensive references to
MacCunn’s life and music.
Jennifer Oates is a musicologist who specialises in 19th and 20th
century music. She is currently Associate Professor at Queen’s College and the
Graduate Centre CUNY and is also Head of the Music Library at Queen’s
College. Oates has a particular interest
in Scottish art music, Granville Bantock and the present composer. She has
produced a scholarly edition of the three surviving MacCunn overtures and is
working on an edition of his songs. There is an important contribution about
MacCunn in Ashgate’s Europe, Empire and
Spectacle in Nineteenth-Century British Music (2006): her work will be
featured in a fascinating-sounding collection of essays entitled The Sea and the British Musical Imagination
which is forthcoming in 2015.
I
am not quite convinced by the conclusion that the main reason that MacCunn
‘failed’ was that he refused or was unable to respond to the currents of
modernism that were raging in the musical world in the Edwardian years at home
and abroad. I concede that MacCunn’s compositions are largely based on the
success of the ‘romantic’ overtures and cantatas of his early years. I do not
believe that it is always valid to judge a composer by his or her reaction to
passing fashions and fads. Hamish MacCunn’s music is impressive, colourful and
evocative of a long-past era. Those works that I have heard are fine examples
of their genre.
It
may be argued that MacCunn did not attain this dreamed-of ‘renaissance’ of
Scottish music. His later exhausting years were fully occupied with conducting
and teaching rather that composing. After his early successes the inspiration
of many of his compositions went much wider than ballads, misty glens and Sir Walter
Scott. Yet the Musical Times may have
judged the matter wisely when the reviewer mused ‘…who is to say that something
isn’t Scottish unless it contains snaps, drones and dialect?’
Hamish MacCunn
(1868-1916): A Musical Life is a significant
study of the life and career of the composer. Jennifer L. Oates has produced a
comprehensive examination of the man in all his guises – teacher, opera
conductor, composer, protagonist for the re-awakening of Scottish art music and
family man. The author has not produced a ‘hagiographical’ study, but has
presented the man in his complexity. The fact that he did not achieve his
ambition to become the ‘Saviour of Native Music’ is not avoided. The analysis of music plays an important, but
not top-heavy part in this text.
Alasdair Jamieson’s book concentrates on MacCunn’s music, whereas
Jennifer L. Oates has majored on the cultural milieu of the composer’s
achievement. Readers who are
fortunate enough to possess both Oates’ and Jamieson’s book will be inclined to
compare the relative merits. These two
books are complimentary rather than competitors. However, for a detailed assessment of Hamish
MacCunn’s entire musical and personal achievement, Jennifer Oates’ book is the
place to start.
Music in 19th Century Britain
Ashgate Publishing Company
286pp
ISBN: 9780754661832
£65:00 (Ashgate Webpage £58.50)
1 comment:
I have often wondered about this composer, and why we never hear *anything* apart from 'The Land of the Mountain and the Flood' (great piece as that is!). Surely he must have written other work that is worthy of being heard?
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