ABSTRACT
From 1898 to 1901, MacCunn conducted for the Royal Carl Rosa Opera and Moody-Manners Opera Companies, marking his first conducting positions since working with Hampstead Conservatoire orchestra in 1892. The Moody-Manners Opera Company named MacCunn principal conductor for the 1900-01 touring season, but he departed at the end of the season and began working in the more lucrative West End. In 1901, MacCunn succeeded François Cellier as conductor with the Savoy Company, a post he retained until 1905. MacCunn stayed with the Savoy Company until 1905, after which he worked as a freelance conductor. In December 1906, MacCunn conducted the Vicar of Wakefield, a comic opera by his former student Liza Lehmann. MacCunn's music, in comparison with the positive critique of Hood's libretto, earned less enthusiastic praise. MacCunn may have been catering to the more sophisticated expectations of his upper-class audience, or this may be another example of his struggles in writing music appropriate for lighter genres.
