Mackenzie, Alexander (1764–1820)

British explorer and fur trader. In 1789, he was the first European to see the river, now part of northern Canada, named after him. In 1792–93 he crossed the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast of what is now British Columbia, making the first known crossing north of Mexico. He was knighted in 1807.

Mackenzie, Alexander (1822–1892)

Canadian politician. In 1867, on the union of Canada, he was elected to the Dominion parliament, and became leader of the opposition in 1868. In 1873 he succeeded John Macdonald as prime minister.

Under Mackenzie the Canadian Pacific project languished, and British Columbia was nearly lost. He was forced by the severe depression of 1873 to abandon his principles of free trade, and to raise the tariff.

Mackenzie was born at Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland. He emigrated to Canada 1842, and settled at Kingston, Ontario, where he became a builder and contractor.

Mackenzie, Alexander (Campbell) (1847–1935)

Scottish composer. He composed prolifically in all genres, perhaps his most notable works being the operas Colomba (1883), The Cricket on the Hearth (1914) and The Eve of St John (1924), and the oratorio The Rose of Sharon (1884). He published his autobiography, A Musician's Narrative, in 1927.

Born in Edinburgh, Mackenzie studied in Germany and later at the Royal Academy of Music, London, of which, after 14 years as a violinist and teacher at Edinburgh and some years at Florence, he was principal 1888–1924. He was also conductor of the Philharmonic Society 1892–99, and president of the International Musical Society 1908–12. In 1923 he received the Royal Philharmonic Society's gold medal.

Works Opera Colomba (1883), The Troubadour (1886), The Cricket on the Hearth (after Dickens, 1914), and The Eve of St John (1924); incidental music for Marmion and Ravenswood (plays based on Scott), Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Byron's ‘Manfred’, and Barrie's The Little Minister.

Oratorio The Rose of Sharon (1884), Bethlehem (1894), The Temptation (after Milton, 1914).

Cantatas The Bride, Jason, The Story of Sayid, The Witch's Daughter, The Sun-God's Return.

Orchestral The Cottar's Saturday Night (Burns) for chorus and orchestra (1888); suite, Scottish Rhapsody, Canadian Rhapsody, ballad ‘La Belle Dame sans merci’ (after Keats, 1883), ‘Tam o' Shanter’ (after Burns), overtures Cervantes (1877), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare), Britannia, and Youth, Sport and Loyalty for orchestra; concerto, Scottish Concerto (1897), suite and Pibroch suite for violin and orchestra.

Chamber string quartet (1875); piano quartet, piano trio; violin and piano pieces.

Other organ and piano music; songs; part songs.