John Blackwood McEwen

Sir John Blackwood McEwen ( born April 13, 1868 in Hawick, † June 14, 1948 in London) was a Scottish composer and from 1924 to 1936 director of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Life

McEwen joined in 1888 to study at the University of Glasgow with the degree of Master of Arts from. This was followed by a study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1895, he was a church musician at the South Paris Church in Greenock and taught in Glasgow at the Athenaeum School of Music. From 1898 he was professor of harmony and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1924 he was appointed as the successor of Alexander Mackenzie to its director, and held this office until 1936. In 1931 he was raised to the peerage.

Work

In McEwen's music has influences of late romanticism and French impressionism mix with those of the Scottish folk music. He created several orchestral works ( including 5 symphonies ), partly with respect to its programmatic südschottische home, about A Solway Symphony (1911; McEwen's 5th Symphony ), o'Heather Hills (1918 ) and Where the Wild Thyme Blows (1936). Among his chamber works stands out a series of 17 string quartets. He was also the author of several musical textbooks.

McEwen's musical legacy is preserved in the Glasgow University Library.

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