This doctoral presentation consists of the preparation of critical editions of eight orchestral works by J.B. McEwen: Symphony in A minor (1895-99), Viola Concerto (1901), Coronach (1903), The Demon Lover (1907-08), Grey Galloway (1908), Solway, A Symphony (1911), Hills 'o Heather (1918), and Where The Wild Thyme Blows (1936). In the absence of any monograph on McEwen there is a chapter which brings together for the first time the biographical information that can be culled from various sources; some, like the correspondence between Henry George Farmer and McEwen in the late 1940's, has never been discussed before. A separate chapter surveys the collection of McEwen manuscripts held at Glasgow University Library, its condition, the extent of it, and how it came to be housed there. There follows a discussion of each of the selected works from the point of view of the editorial issues relating to them and also some aspects of McEwen's stylistic development. It was important to McEwen that a composer spoke in his native voice through his music as is evident in a letter he wrote to H.G. Farmer in 1947(1). Discussion of this aspect of his expressive style is therefore helpful in understanding his development from the early Symphony in A minor of 1895-99 to his last orchestral work, Where The Wild Thyme Blows of 1936. Such a stylistic study is secondary to the main thrust of the thesis which is a critical edition, but it is necessary in order to fully understand the complex issues involved in making McEwen's last orchestral work performable. Where The Wild Thyme Blows was left incomplete and the present editor has made a performing version. There is a brief concluding section which consolidates evident features of the McEwen manuscripts which would be useful for further studies of these papers. Each of the selected works is presented as a separate volume in a scholarly edition with full critical commentary given at the end of each volume. (1) Glasgow University Library catalogue n.MS Farmer 217
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:586193 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Mitchell, Alasdair James |
| Contributors | O'Regan, Noel; Harper, E. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7703 |
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