ABSTRACT
MacCunn established his career as a composer, conductor, and teacher on his own terms, despite or perhaps because of his fraught relationships with colleagues and his tactless departure from the Royal College of Music (RCM). All seven of these Scottish compositions epitomize MacCunn's devotion to his homeland. It shows that he had absorbed the folk style to such a degree that he could create new tunes that could pass as "folk" without relying on cliches of Scottish music. Among the youngest generation of rising musicians in this country, Mr. Hamish MacCunn, chiefly owing to the promise of his orchestral writing, has taken a prominent position. Critics of MacCunn's day and modern scholars alike emphasize the Scottishness of the overture's themes. MacCunn's orchestration received particular attention in reviews, and many acknowledged his skillful and dramatic program music. MacCunn relied on his penchant for dramatic music to tell the action-packed story economically and effectively.
