Most of Dr. Mackenzie's work is done in the morning from nine to
one-thirty, and he never touches it in the afternoon. As a rule he
leaves _scoring_ for the orchestra or looking over the morning's work
for the evening hours. "But," in his own words, "if I feel capable of
_inventing_, why, I begin to work again about eight-thirty and continue
until I am tired."
As a rule, the principal of the Royal Academy of Music sketches his
music on two or three lines, as shown in the illustration.
"When I am engaged upon anything that absorbs my entire attention," he
continues, "I carry a little musical note-book about with me and jot
down roughly any idea which may occur to me, and I have found this plan
useful. When I am composing I never lose the thread of it, morning,
noon, or night; even at meals I am unconsciously occupied with it--this
goes on until the work is finished."
[Illustration: We have waited for long ... waited for long!]
Dr. Mackenzie decidedly disapproves of the manner in which composers in
England are made to work--viz., to order.
"Such pressure," he says, emphatically, "is unproductive of the best
work, and highly detrimental to one's general health and comfort."
For those reasons he objects to undertake commissions.