Today we’re going to talk about Alexander Mackenzie, but before that I want to write a few words about Ignacy Jan Paderewski. What’s interesting about him? He was a composer and the second Prime Minister of Poland. What he has to do with Mackenzie? Well, Mackenzie was a composer and the second Prime Minister (only of Canada), too. Some people however disagree, thinking he wasn't a composer but Prime Minister only. Third parties claim that he was born in Scotland in 1847, composed oratorios, pieces, and folk music, and never visited Canada, not talking about any political activity which was alien to him.
Ambiguous as it is, everybody’s right. Alexander Mackenzie really was a Prime Minister of Canada, but there was another Alexander Mackenzie – Romantic composer, conductor, and character of our story. Thanks third parties, we know main facts of his biography. The only mismatch is a statement about him never crossing the border of Canada: Alexander Mackenzie visited several cities in 1903.
Mackenzie’s works inspired Canadians to found 11 choral societies and created incentives for musical renaissance in 19th century Britain. For all his merit he was knighted, even though he wasn’t a second Prime Minister of Canada (who was offered the same title but refused it thrice).
Sheet music of Nocturne in A Major, his classical piece, is available here:
Nocturne in A Major, Op.15 No.2.
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