MacCunn, HAMISH

MacCunn, HAMISH, composer, was born in Greenock, 22d March 1868. After study under local teachers, in 1883 he won a scholarship at the Royal College of Music. His progress there was so rapid that in the following year he was able to resign it. In 1888 he was appointed a junior professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy. He is regarded as one of the most promising composers of the day, his works having already won high approbation. Beginning with the overture Cior Mhor produced at Glasgow, 22d Jan. 1887, they embrace two other overtures, Land of the Mountain and the Flood and The Dowie Dens of Yarrow; choral works, including The Lay of the Last Minstrel; some songs; and the operas Jeanie Deans (1894) and Diarmid (1897; libretto by present Duke of Argyll). Possessing fertility in melody and a remarkable mastery of the orchestra, he is a pronounced upholder of nationality in music, and his works are distinctly Scottish in character.