The overture makes witty and ingenious use of the refrain to Arne’s famous tune and to certain melodic features of the hornpipe ‘Jack’s the Lad’, but is largely composed of three original themes, one of which (the trio-like second subject) is intended to reproduce the style of nautical song popularised by Dibdin. ![]() ![]() It was given its first public London performance in May of the same year under Richter and soon became a regular feature of the Henry Wood Proms. Mackenzie succeeded Macfarren as Principal of the RAM in 1881 and composed his ‘nautical overture’ Britannia for the festivities connected with the seventieth anniversary of that institution in 1894. Here was a man fully equipped in every department of musical knowledge who had been a violinist in orchestras in Germany. Sitting in the last desk of first violins at the 1881 Worcester premiere of Mackenzie’s cantata The Bride, Elgar was overcome by its masterly orchestration and later wrote: ‘The coming of Mackenzie, then, was a real event. ![]() It was possibly the orchestral connection that instilled in Elgar a lifelong affection and admiration for the older composer. Trained at the RAM, Alexander Mackenzie (1847–1935) had started life as an accomplished professional violinist but went on to become one of the most prolific and influential musicians in British musical life.
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