Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, 'R.A.M.' Composer and Musician

Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, Mus. Doc., L.L.D., D.C.L. (1847-1935), Composer and Musician, was born in Edinburgh and was the eldest son of Alexander Mackenzie, a violinist and leader of the orchestra at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh. At the age of ten, Mackenzie was sent to Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, a musical institute in Germany famous for fostering the advancement of modern music. Indeed, by the age of thirteen, Mackenzie was a violinist in the Ducal Orchestra. He returned to England and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1862, winning the King's Scholarship for his skill playing the piano and violin. Mackenzie returned to Scotland in 1865 where he played and composed music until 1881 when he and his wife, Mary Malina (d.1925), moved to Florence. During the seven years he lived in Italy, Mackenzie wrote some of his most important music. The most notable are his cantata 'The Bride' (1881), 'Jason' (1882), the opera 'Colomba' (1883) and the oratorio 'The Rose of Sharon' (1884). Mackenzie returned triumphantly to London to a new appointment as Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, a position that he held until his retirement in 1924. Mackenzie was regarded as one of the finest British musicians of his day and was highly regarded for his cosmopolitan style and imaginative use of the orchestra. In 1895, Mackenzie was knighted and, in 1922, was made K.C.V.O.

He has been given so many degrees by different Universities that he is one of the most 'doctored' men in London. More personally, he is a Scotchman with a very real sense of humour, who, having left his native country, successfully dared to go back there on the most unremunerative errand - that of composing high-class music.

Vanity Fair, 'Men of the Day', No. 905, 1904.