Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916): A Musical Life

ISBN-13: 9781138278370 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 286 str.

Jennifer L. Oates

Opis

As the first comprehensive study of MacCunn’s life, this book illustrates how social and cultural situations, as well as personal relationships, influenced his career. Having risen to fame in the late 1880s with a string of Scottish works, MacCunn further highlighted his Caledonian background by cultivating a Scottish artistic persona that defined him throughout his life. A talented composer, but also a difficult individual who made poor professional choices, MacCunn played a role in establishing national identity in British music but also ultimately sabotaged his own career.

Recenzje

'Oates offers a vivid portrait of MacCunn’s life, education and career in the context of his time and demonstrates his contribution to the making of British musical modernity... This is an insightful and detailed exploration of musical nationalism and the birth of ’British’ music in the closing years of the nineteenth century... of value to historical musicologists, cultural historians of British and Scottish art music and to today’s composers seeking insights into the evocation of landscape and other hallmarks of identity and heritage in the modern world. Composers may also find it to be a highly instructive examination of the complex relationship between artistic integrity and public perception.' Scottish Journal of Performance '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.' Music Web International '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 ... for a detailed assessment of Hamish MacCunn’s entire musical and personal achievement, Jennifer Oates’ book is the place to start'. Music Web International ’Oates has here presented a cogent picture of MacCunn’s short life with many interesting details and the odd revelation. A useful list of works is found in the appendix’. Music and Letters

Spis treści

Introduction; From Greenock to London: 1868-86; `Pushing off into the stream': 1887-90; Between the concert hall and the opera house: 1887-93; Scottish opera: 1892-95; After Jeanie Deans: 1896-97; `Dried up': 1898-1910; Final years: 1911-16; `The potential saviour of native music': appraisals and conclusions; Appendix; Select bibliography; Discography; Index.

O autorze

Jennifer Oates, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at Queens College and the Graduate Center-CUNY, and Head of the Music Library at Queens College. Oates's research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century British music, particularly Scottish art music, Scotland in music, and the music of Hamish MacCunn and Sir Granville Bantock.