page_title: Classical music in Scotland
section_title: Twentieth century to the present day
hierarchical_section_title: Classical music in Scotland / Twentieth century to the present day
caption_attribution_description: Evelyn Glennie at Moers Festival 2004 own photo, may 30, 2004- photo: nomo/michael hoefner http://www.zwo5.de
context_page_description: Classical music in Scotland is all art music in the Western European classical tradition, between its introduction in the eighteenth century until the present day. The development of a distinct tradition of art music in Scotland was limited by the impact of the Scottish Reformation on ecclesiastical music from the sixteenth century. Concerts, largely composed of "Scottish airs", developed in the seventeenth century and classical instruments were introduced to the country. Music in Edinburgh prospered through the patronage of figures including the merchant Sir John Clerk of Penicuik. The Italian style of classical music was probably first brought to Scotland by the cellist and composer Lorenzo Bocchi, who travelled to Scotland in the 1720s. The Musical Society of Edinburgh was incorporated in 1728. Several Italian musicians were active in the capital in this period and there are several known Scottish composers in the classical style, including Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie, the first Scot known to have produced a symphony.
context_section_description: Drysdale's later work included the tone poem A Border Romance (1904), and the cantata Tamlane (1905). Wallace produced his pioneering symphonic poem about his namesake, medieval nationalist William Wallace AD 1305–1905 (1905); and a cantata, The Massacre of the Macpherson (1910). John McEwen's (1868–1948) more overtly national works included Grey Galloway (1908), the Solway Symphony (1911) and Prince Charlie, A Scottish Rhapsody (1924). Conductor Hugh S. Roberton (1874–1952), founded the Glasgow Orpheus Choir in 1906 and Donald Tovey was appointed the Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh in 1914.
  After World War I, Robin Orr (1909–2006) and Cedric Thorpe Davie (1913–83) were influenced by modernism and Scottish musical cadences. The influence of modernism can also be heard in the work of Erik Chisholm (1904–65) in his Pibroch Piano Concerto (1930) and the Straloch suite for Orchestra (1933) and the sonata An Riobhan Dearg (1939). In 1928 he founded the Scottish Ballet Society (later the Celtic Ballet) with choreographer Margaret Morris. Together they created several ballets, including The Forsaken Mermaid (1940). He was also instrumental in the foundation of the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music, for which he brought leading composers to Glasgow to perform their work.
  The ideas of the Scottish Renaissance, which sought to develop a distinctly Scottish and modernist approach to the arts and began with the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, were brought to classical music by Francis George Scott (1880–1958), MacDiarmid's former teacher, who adapted several of the poet's works into songs. Lancashire-born Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928) collaborated with Scott and both wrote in 12-tone modernism. Stevenson developed a tonality from Scottish music, creating settings of folk songs including concertos for his instrument the piano (1966 and 1972). He also adapted work by Scottish renaissance poets such as MacDiarmid, Sorley Maclean and William Soutar. The influence of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–75) was evident in the initials used in his eighty-minute piano work Pasacaglia on D-S-C-H (1963).
  The Edinburgh Festival was founded in 1947 as a substitute for festivals at Glyndebourne, Munich and Salzburg, which could not be held in the aftermath of World War II. It rapidly grew in significance and led to an expansion of classical music in Scotland, including the foundation of Scottish Opera in 1960. Scottish composers influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) included Iain Hamilton (1922–2000), Thomas Wilson (1927–2001) and Thea Musgrave (b. 1928). Another native of Lancashire, Salford-born Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016), lived on Orkney from the 1970s, and co-founded the St Magnus Festival there. Pieces inspired by, or dedicated to his adoptive home, or Scotland more generally, include Farewell to Stromness (1980), An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise (1985) (one of the few orchestral pieces to feature a bagpipe solo), Ten Strathclyde Concertos (1986–96) (written for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and soloists) and the operas The Martyrdom of St Magnus (1977) (inspired by the novel Magnus by George Mackay Brown) and The Lighthouse (1980), based on the Flannan Isles mystery. Davies has been the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's Composer Laureate since 1985. Edward McGuire (b. 1948) has produced large scale works that have earned critical acclaim, including The Loving of Etain (1990). William Sweeney (b. 1950), who has undertaken numerous commissions by the BBC and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, was influenced by Stockhausen but also returned to the folk idiom.
  James MacMillan (b. 1959) is amongst the leading Scottish composers of the post-war period. Influenced by Polish expressionism, he also incorporates elements of Scottish folk music, as in his The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990). His Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992) was written for internationally renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie (b. 1965). Craig Armstrong (b. 1959) has produced music for numerous films, including The Bone Collector (19
caption: Percussionist Evelyn Glennie
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