Burial, Op. 27, No. 3 (for All Soul's Day)

Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie KCVO (22 August 1847 – 28 April 1935) was a Scottish composer, conductor and teacher best known for his oratorios, violin and piano pieces, Scottish folk music and works for the stage.

Mackenzie was a member of a musical family and was sent for his musical education to Germany. He had many successes as a composer, producing over 90 compositions, but from 1888 to 1924, he devoted a great part of his energies to running the Royal Academy of Music. Together with Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford, he was regarded as one of the fathers of the British musical renaissance in the late nineteenth century.

Mackenzie was born in Edinburgh, where his musical talent emerged early, initially as a violinist. He later became a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In October 1887, the principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Sir George Macfarren, died, and in early 1888 Mackenzie was appointed to succeed him. He held the post for 36 years until his retirement in 1924.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mackenzie's professional prominence brought him many honours from universities and learned societies in Britain and abroad. He was knighted in 1895, and created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1922.

"Burial" if the third piece of three, published around 1880. Mackenzie wrote only these 3 works for organ (I think), and are titled: "Baptism", "Wedding" and "Burial."

I found this to be an attractive and compelling piece. It's sort of like a mini-tone poem. In it, I identified several contrasting elements: 1) a chanted litany, played upon the Clarinet, 2) a "mortality chorus" played upon the Vox Humana, and 3) a brighter, happier section, played upon the Diapasons and "small" full Swell.

It's yet another one of those pieces that will surprise you with all the details to get right!

The score is attached below, as well as several photos of A. C. Mackenzie.