Sweet Blue-Eyed Maid. (Daintily, not too sentimentally.) The spirit of this song is happy and it is beautifully, although simply, expressed.

Sweetheart, Tell Me. (Softly, tenderly.) The ability of MacDowell to suggest a definite mood in music is clearly demonstrated in this song, which has a simple melody of wonderful appeal and tenderness.

Thy Beaming Eyes. (With sentiment, passionately.) This is the most widely known of all MacDowell's songs. The composer himself thought it too sentimental and was not pleased with the popularity it gained. There is no mistaking its passionate feeling, however, and it strikes the human note frankly and spontaneously, without becoming commonplace. The song is at least sincere, and its popularity can do no harm to its composer's deeper music, which is less easily understood.

Gramophone records of Thy Beaming Eyes have been made for "Columbia" by Charles W. Clarke, baritone, and for "His Master's Voice" by Sophie Breslau, contralto.

For Sweet Love's Sake. (Simply, with feeling.) This song is not a very successful alliance of words and music. The former are of tender content, while the latter is after the style of a pleasant lullaby. The music does not in the least reflect the spirit of the words.

O Lovely Rose. (Slowly, with great simplicity.) This is the pure lyric gem of the Six Love Songs by MacDowell. It is very short, but has a rare charm and fragrance.

I Ask But This. (Moderately fast, almost banteringly.) There is an attractive piquancy and lightness about this song that makes it distinct from its companions. It suggests light-hearted love, and its demure ending, as the lovers part, was a happy thought on the part of the composer.



OPUS 41. TWO PART-SONGS, FOR MALE CHORUS.

Composed, 1890. First Published, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Cradle Song.

2. Dance of the Gnomes.

These two part-songs are effectively written and sharply contrasted. Their contrast furnishes good reason why both should be sung in the order given, and not robbed of their natural companionship.



OPUS 42. FIRST SUITE, IN A MINOR, FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.

Composed, about 1890-91. First Performed, September, 1891, at the Worcester, U.S.A., Musical Festival. First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Movements First Published, 1891. Third Movement First Published, 1893 (Complete—Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. In a Haunted Forest.

2. Summer Idyl.

3. In October.

4. The Song of the Shepherdess.

5. Forest Spirits.

This suite, although reminiscent of the nineteenth century German romanticism amongst which MacDowell was educated, has an atmosphere of its own that at once distinguishes it as an example of the highly sensitive and suggestive tone poetry peculiar to its composer. The work is very skilfully written and is remarkable for its freshness and buoyancy of spirit. The scoring is exquisite and always illustrative of the poetical subjects of the suite. Each of the pieces has in its title a suggestion of a scene of Nature, the first and last having also the fanciful and imaginative atmosphere of folk-lore; this provided MacDowell with a task in tone painting such as he loved. In _In a Haunted Forest_ and _Forest Spirits_ we have examples of the romantic and fanciful sort of tone poetry characteristic of the composer. In the _Summer Idyl_, in the fine, mellow beauty of _In October_ and in the lovely _Song of the Shepherdess_ we have MacDowell composing in his beloved Nature style, although not in a manner quite comparable with the pianoforte pieces, _Woodland Sketches, Op. 51_, and _New England Idyls, Op. 62_. As a whole, the _First Suite for Orchestra_ is not the finest of MacDowell's orchestral works up to this stage, but it stands alone in the style of its poetic subject matter. It has not the same bearing as _Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22_, Lancelot and Elaine, Op. 25_, _Lamia, Op. 29_, or _The Saracens and the Lovely Alda, Op. 30_, which all have an historical or romantic outlook, but it possesses instead the wonderful spirit of mysterious Nature. Even the noble _Second (Indian) Suite for Orchestra_, the grandest of MacDowell's orchestral works, cannot alter the position of this first suite, which has an interest entirely its own. In performance the work is notable for its fresh and finely-coloured material, and makes a fine item in a concert because of its brilliancy and the charmingly interesting suggestions of its poetic sub-titles.



OPUS 43. TWO NORTHERN PART-SONGS, FOR MIXED CHORUS.

Composed, 1891. First Published, 1891 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. The Brook.

2. Slumber Song.

These are well written and effective part-songs, making lovely unaccompanied choral numbers. They have been undeservedly overshadowed by the composer's instrumental and solo songs. Both should be sung together for the sake of the intentional contrast.



OPUS 44. BARCAROLLE, FOR MIXED CHORUS AND ACCOMPANIMENT FOR PIANOFORTE DUET.

First Appeared, 1892 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

This is a meritorious choral piece, skilfully written. The somewhat elaborate accompaniment for pianoforte requires two players.



OPUS 45. FIRST SONATA, TRAGICA, IN G MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE.

Composed, 1892-3. Third Movement First Publicly Played, March 18th, 1892, at Checkering Hall, Boston, U.S.A., by the Composer. First Public Complete Performance, March, 1893, at a Kneisal Quartet Concert at Chickering Hall, Boston. Played by the Composer. First Published, 1893 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

1. Largo maestoso—Allegro risoluto.

2. Molto allegro, vivace.

3. Largo con maesta.

4. Allegro eroico.

Huneker, the celebrated American writer on music, described this sonata, soon after its appearance, as "the most marked contribution to solo sonata literature since Brahms' F minor piano sonata." The work is chiefly notable for its general boldness and strength, punctuated by passages of intimate tenderness and deepness of expression, and its slow movement is one of MacDowell's most inspired efforts. The great demerit of the sonata, however, is its lack of cohesive thought. As a whole it suggests the spectacle of a highly gifted poet, full of emotional ardour and desire for self expression, but lacking the requisite skill to bind long continued effort into a cohesive whole; and who makes the mistake of trying to cramp his undoubtedly beautiful ideas by compressing them into a set form. The Sonata Tragica is more of a traditional sonata than its successors, the Eroica, Op. 50, the Norse, Op. 57, and the Keltic, Op. 59, but as a work of art is less successful. Its subjects are quite fine, showing, individually, great strength of character and tender feeling, but they often appear to have no definite connection with each other. In the first movement especially we find this defect, for the second subject, with its lovely tenderness, contrasts awkwardly with the boldness and strength of the first. The cause of this would seem to be that a quieter second subject is demanded by the form of the sonata, but its effect on the movement as a whole is patchy and illogical. MacDowell evidently made some efforts to effect cohesion, transferring ideas from one movement to another in the process, but the attempts generally are not successful. He tries to write in the traditional form, and only succeeds in drawing the student's attention to the futility of it. Later, in the Norse and the Keltic sonatas, he threw form overboard when it suited him; and wrote far greater works in doing so. There is no doubting the quality of the music in the Sonata Tragica, however, for it contains passages of dramatic fire, breadth and sweep of line, beauty of expression and a strength of character that can only be the work of a great tone poet. The work was undoubtedly written at a white heat of inspiration, for at the time MacDowell was not only grieved over the death of his old master and friend, Joachim Raff, but was also harrassed by the drudgery and struggle of his own existence. He poured out his passionate feelings into the sonata, which is largely a reflection of the hopeless outlook of his own care-laden life.

1. The introductory Largo maestoso opens with a figure of striking aspect, like a clenched, upraised fist. Immediately following this comes a quieter, more serious strain, but only to be succeeded by loud chords again, now punctuated by rushing ascents in scale and arpeggio figures, the whole culminating in a tremendous descent of double octaves bringing almost the whole range of the pianoforte keyboard into action. After a pause, the Allegro risoluto enters ppp. Its bearing is strong and proud and has much that is akin to the nervous, resolute martial energy of Elgar. The second subject, Dolce con tenerezza, is exquisitely tender and contemplative, but it follows the first awkwardly, and the two as MacDowell left them are like detached scraps having no relation to one another. As we proceed the music becomes mysterious and restless until a more solid chord passage appears. The whole is soon interrupted by the arresting figure of the introduction, now appearing softly, with foreboding seriousness. With the resumption of the Allegro risoluto the striving commences again and is even more restless than before. From now onwards the music becomes increasingly significant, graduating in tone power from a shadowy ppp to solid and virile loud chords. The first and second subjects formally reappear and the end comes with a short coda, the feature of which is its powerful upward expansion, culminating in chords of great strength, the striking opening figure being again heard.

2. The scherzo-like second movement is inferior in quality to the rest of the sonata, and apart from some ejaculations suggesting the dramatic opening of the first movement, does not appear to have any connection with the work as a whole. Its themes are not distinguished, although there are touches of strength in many places, and the movement savours generally of Teutonic romantic influence and probably only exists at all as a concession to form.

3. The Largo con maesta is the outstanding movement of the sonata, remaining to this day one of MacDowell's most impressive creations. It is full of deep feeling and gravity, contrasted with passages of tender contemplation and the impassioned poetry of despair. The whole aspect of the movement is lofty in thought, vast in tonality and altogether indicative of power and of genius. MacDowell was harassed by drudgery and care when he wrote it and the tragic note is sounded from its first bars. After exhausting itself in intense expression, the opening theme makes way for a mood of quiet, although still despairing, contemplation. This wanders on, until the music becomes impassioned and more intricate. Rushing ascending scale passages add to the restless movement of the whole, culminating in a tumultuous and despairing utterance of the contemplative theme. This gradually dies down and soon the impressive strains of the first theme are heard, now softly breathed and portraying a deep and broken sadness in place of the clenched fist attitude of their first appearance. The music becomes more and more subdued, finally becoming extinct in pppp chords. The whole of this last page is one of the most impressive and soul-stirring things in contemporary pianoforte music.

4. The final movement, Allegro eroico, opens with a bold, heroic theme in spread chords, followed by a quieter subject. The music goes triumphantly on with increasing brilliance, complexity and heroic ardour. At length a great final version of the heroic theme is heard, Maestoso, and soon we come to the dramatic moment of the whole sonata. At the very height of exaltation we are overwhelmed by a shattering descent of double octaves, precipitate. The heroism and self-confident ardour so carefully built up are swept away and the significant strains of the introduction to the work are heard, now augmented in time value. The music bursts into fury and the sonata ends with immensely powerful and ringing chords, but it is the shout of tragedy and not of victory. Thus closes a work that may well stand to-day as a musical representation of the composer's own life story. The sonata was first played in London on February 25th, 1902, by Lucie Mawson.



OPUS 46. TWELVE VIRTUOSO STUDIES, FOR PIANOFORTE.

Composed, 1893-94. First Published, 1894 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

1. Novelette.

2. Moto Perpetuo.

3. Wild Chase.

4. Improvisation.

5. Elfin Dance.

6. Valse Triste.

7. Burlesque.

8. Bluette.

9. Traumerei.

10. March Wind.

11. Impromptu.

12. Polonaise.

These studies, while indicated by the composer as requiring advanced technique for performance, are full of poetical thought and tonal beauty that make them worthy of study. Many of them possess that Nature tone painting, that mystic, subtle romanticism of whispering tree-tops and elfin glades, that freshness and open air spirit which distinguish MacDowell's later short pieces.

Novelette is an attractive study and full of the composer's own individual spirit. It is considered to be one of the best of the set.

Moto Perpetuo is cleverly written and musical.

Wild Chase is one of those exhilarating, imaginative pieces so characteristic of MacDowell. It is full of outdoor poetry and suggestive of a wild and glorious ride over the great American prairies, or of a dream gallop full of breathless fancy.

Improvisation exhibits the composer's finer poetry and mastery of his art.

Elfin Dance is suggestive and imaginative.

Valse Triste is expressive and interesting, although not one of the most distinguished of the set.

Burlesque is a musical number, bright in spirit and free from commonplace.

Bluette is a beautiful piece of tone painting.

Traumerei has a certain beauty of its own, indicating the composer's capacity for deep expression.

March Wind is full of the wild open-air breeziness associated in our thoughts with the subject of its inspiration, and captures the imagination. For a minute or so we can escape the heavy atmosphere confined within four walls and rush with the sweeping wind, high above cities and out over the broad, rolling country beyond. The study has a background of spaciousness that suggests American scenery.

Impromptu is interesting and musical.

Polonaise has brilliance and is well and effectively conceived for big pianoforte tone production.



OPUS 47. EIGHT SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.

Composed, 1893. First Published, 1893 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

1. The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree.

2. Midsummer Lullaby.

3. Folk Song.

4. Confidence.

5. The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees.

6. In the Woods.

7. The Sea.

8. Through the Meadow.

With the composition of these songs, MacDowell fairly entered into his finest and most mature period. They are beautiful, characteristic, and full of that engaging romance, piquancy and poetic charm that distinguishes his best lyrical work.

The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree is written to the composer's own words, which may be found in the published book of his verses. The song is infinitely tender and tinged with that wistfulness that he so often infused into his music. Particularly beautiful is the spirit of the last verse:—

O robin, and thou blackbird brave, My songs of love have died; How can you sing as in byegone days, When she was at my side.

Midsummer Lullaby has much charm and grace in its refined and sensitive verse inspiration.

Folk Song is characteristic and melodious.

Confidence shows a lyric power of unusual quality and although the music is not always in sympathy with the verse, the true spirit of poetry is there.

The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees is written to the lines of MacDowell's little poem entitled, To Maud. This song is beautiful and full of feeling, and tells in its three verses of Love's expectation, doubt and disappointment. The music is allied with perfect sympathy to the words.

In the Woods was written to the composer's lines after Goethe. This song is a pure lyric, touched with just enough romance to deepen its significance.

The Sea is well written, showing some of the power and healthiness of the true MacDowell open-air spirit.

Through the Meadow makes an exquisite vocal piece, thoroughly attractive in its freshness. It is a song of the true nature-poet, breathing the atmosphere of its title in the most delightful and sensitive manner.



OPUS 48. SECOND SUITE (INDIAN), FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.

First Performed, January, 1896, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in New York. First Performance in England, October 23rd, 1901, at a London Queen's Hall Promenade Concert. Conductor, Sir (then Mr.) Henry J. Wood. First Published, 1897 (Breitkopf and Haertel).

Dedicated to Emil Paur and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Optional Titles to Movements, Furnished by the Composer.

1. Legend.

2. Love-Song.

3. In War Time.

4. Dirge.

5. Village Festival.

In the Indian Suite we have one of the most graphic examples of MacDowell's power of creating atmospheres and impressions of big subjects. It is the finest and most mature of his orchestral works, thoroughly individual and without a trace of the nineteenth century German romanticism that is found in his earlier productions. Its musical declamation is commanding and infinitely noble. The atmosphere of the great rolling plains, mighty forests, and vast and lonely retreats is unerringly created. The notes of wildness and an indescribably touching spirit of far away romance are sounded, telling of a forgotten and dying elemental race. In the Suite the lodges of the Red men rise again before our eyes; their old legends, savage war dances, love romances, their sorrows, joys and festivities live once more. MacDowell has caught the spirit of the days when the rude, but curiously interesting aborigines of America lived; of days that are now but treasured legends that still stir the hearts of the young in many lands. He conveyed a feeling of this atmosphere in his music with an unerring touch, the effect of which is heightened by the use of material derived from the native tunes of the North American Indians. The Indian Suite is undoubtedly one of the most noble and impressive works that MacDowell ever composed, containing in the Dirge movement one of his most striking utterances. In his last days he expressed a preference for this above anything else he had composed. The Suite is full of stirring strength, vast tonalities, depth of feeling and elemental greatness, and is scored with a mastery of orchestral tone colour used solely and unerringly to enhance the poetic suggestiveness of the whole. It was fully sketched between three and four years before its first appearance, as the composer spent much time in becoming more closely acquainted with Red Indian tunes.

1. Legend (Not fast. With much dignity and character). This opens with a romantic horn-call of the plains that is significant of the whole Suite:—

[Music.]

It is heard again at the end of the last movement. Indescribable is the effect of the paused note, the silence, and then the far away answer. The call is elaborated with rich effect, but the atmosphere of vastness and loneliness is preserved. The suggestiveness of this introduction is wonderfully vivid, for in a moment we are transported from the civilisation of to-day to the wildness and romance of the old days on the plains of the great West. The introduction finished, the movement proper begins (Twice as fast. With decision.) with a long tremolo on the note B. At the fifth bar a harvest song of the Iroquois Indians appears:—

[Music.]

Vivid in effect is the following striving figure:—

[Music.]

The Indian theme is now elaborated at some length with much richness, and is wild in effect. After this a tender MacDowell-like second subject appears:—

[Music.]

This contemplative atmosphere is soon broken as the influence of the native theme is felt, and the striving figure is also heard. The music grows more and more wild and intricate, working up to a tearing intensity and then dying away until only a few deep murmurs remain. The striving figure is heard twice, and then follows a small bridge to a repetition of the tender second subject, now heard pianissimo under a swaying, chord accompaniment. After a time it grows in intensity and imperceptibly merges into the romantic call of the introduction, the influence of which, however, is at once felt. The music now mounts to a tremendous pose of strength, double fortissimo, the final bars striking the same attitude in a deeper and more stolid form. There is little in music of such iron-like force as the conclusion of this Legend. The thundering tremolos and chords are not intricate or beautiful, their very splendour lying in their stark, magnificent elemental power.

2. Love-Song (Not fast. Tenderly). This opens with the tune of a love song of the Iowa Indians:—

[Music.]

This little after thought brings a touch of romance:—

[Music.]

A new and equally tender theme follows:—

[Music.]

Although not of great importance, this little episode is notable for its poetic suggestion of the Red Indian atmosphere:—

[Music.]

The music now goes on its way, rich in harmonic and instrumental colour, but always clear, now soft and lulling, now approaching the passionate. The first theme is heard again, and the Love-Song is then concluded by the little after thought.

3. In War Time (With rough vigour, almost savagely). A rude war song of the Iroquois Indians opens this movement:—

[Music.]

The rhythm of its continuation is afterwards made much of, particularly the active semiquaver figure:—

[Music.]

The opening theme is now repeated with the implied harmonies, the whole progressing with increasing intensity, the figure of the second illustration being prominent. The music surges wildly, undulating in a manner that suggests a Redskin scalp dance, the hideous, painted figures now bending low, now holding their weapons high above their heads. At length the fury of the war dance reaches an elan that exhausts it, the barbaric figure referred to in our second illustration becoming more and more prominent, then sinking lower and lower until it is nothing more than a series of thudding accents, broken by periods of silence of increasing length. The effect is one of horses galloping further and further away into the distance. After this the whole atmosphere changes, and a mournful, lonely cry is heard:—

[Music.]

We may find the significance of this in the fact that it is a prominent figure of the Dirge, No. 4 of the suite. The active figure is now heard again, deep and almost inaudible, softly ushering in the barbaric opening theme, now heard in the bass. The warriors appear to be returning as the music once more grows in volume. Wilder and wilder it grows—a moment's silence—only to begin again faster and faster. Still faster does it become until it is almost a scream, the conclusion coming in a magnificent series of reiterated chords thundered out with the full strength of the orchestra employed. There is no doubt that this piece is one of the most vividly imaginative and brilliant in the whole range of orchestral music, although it is rarely performed with the skill and insight it requires.

4. Dirge (Dirge-like, mournfully). "Of all my music," said MacDowell after his last music had been published, "the Dirge in the Indian Suite pleases me most. It affects me deeply and did when I was writing it. In it an Indian woman laments the death of her son; but to me, as I wrote it, it seemed to express a world-sorrow rather than a particularised grief." The piece is undoubtedly one of its composer's most melancholy utterances. Under a long series of reiterated key notes of the tonic minor, the wailing phrase heard in In War Time (No. 3 of the suite) appears:—

[Music.]

It goes on at some length with increasing sadness and richer harmonic and instrumental colouring (indescribable is the effect of a muted horn heard off the platform). Soon comes a deep and solemn bass uttering, heart-shaking in its grief. We give it with the passage leading up to it:—

[Music.]

After a while the music rises with the same lonely mournfulness to an outburst of despair:—

[Music.]

The sad opening phase follows and after this the solemn bass figure. The close is mysterious but piercing in its sobbing, inconsolable grief.

[Music.]

This Dirge is indisputably the cry of a great soul, and there is little in music which expresses grief so effectively. The sense it gives of loneliness and sombreness has never been quite equalled by any other composer. The piece is not a funeral oration weighed down with pomp, but the spontaneous grief of elemental humanity. The scene is of a mother mourning for her son; its significance is of a world sorrow. The music would honour any composer, living or dead.

5. Village Festival (Swift and light). This number is the longest of the Suite. It opens with the tune of a squaws' dance of the Iroquois Indians:—

[Music.]

This is soon followed by another of festivity:—

[Music.]

The music proceeds, rich in harmonic and instrumental colouring, and vividly suggesting the wild orgies of the village festivities of the Red Indians. The whole works up to frenzied power until exhaustion comes and it dies down again. Indicated as slightly broader, the opening tune is now heard softly over mysterious tremolos. Particularly subdued is the wild and sombre after thought:—

[Music.]

After a time, the striving figure first heard early in the first number of this suite, Legend, appears. The thumping accents of the festal dance are now heard again, softly, and soon we hear the opening tune. The wild excitement begins to return, growing to a frenzy in which a reminiscence of the first theme of the Legend may be noticed. Soon the music sinks down again, but never losing its strongly-marked accents, and now hastening its course. The second festive theme is heard softly, high in the scale. Faster and faster, but still subdued, grows the music, the striving figure of the Legend being prominent. A broadening out then comes and with it a magnificent, raw strength, in which is heard the romantic call that opens the whole work in the introduction to the first movement. The bare tonic is now struck with a gesture of great force. A roll of sound follows. Again the bare note is sounded, and again the roll of sound succeeds. The last dozen bars thunder solely on the tonic note, with a rude, but stern and manly elemental absence of harmonic colouring, typifying with undeniable dignity the savage, but often impressive and noble figure of the Red Man, forgotten now that his great race has been succeeded by the greatest and most striking nation of the white races—the Republic of the West.

The Indian Suite is obtainable in pianoforte score.



OPUS 49. AIR AND RIGAUDON, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1894 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

This work has been curiously neglected. It comes just at the beginning of MacDowell's more mature period, but nobody seems to know much about it. It is true that it lacks the definitely indicated poetic basis that is a feature of the composer's finest work, but it is a well written and melodious composition. It is at least more deserving of attention than the popular Hexentanz, Op. 17, and the Etude de Concert in F sharp, Op. 36, but these two owe their popularity to the virtuoso pianist. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians refers to Op. 49 as "some dances published in a Boston collection."



OPUS 50. SECOND SONATA, EROICA, IN G MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1895 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

Dedicated to William Mason.

"Flos regum Arthurus."

1. Slow, with nobility—Fast, passionately, etc.

2. Elf-like, as light and swift as possible.

3. Tenderly, longingly, yet with passion.

4. Fiercely, very fast.

The Sonata Eroica is perhaps the most beautiful and noble, although not the grandest or most stirring, of MacDowell's four pianoforte sonatas. It has not the weight and power of the Sonata Tragica, Op. 45, but in its beauty and noble dignity it is infinitely more impressive. The whole work was inspired by the Arthurian legends that MacDowell, with his love of ancient chivalry and romance, loved to idealise. In the sonata he has illuminated his subject with compelling nobleness of thought and beauty of effect, freely adapting the traditional musical form to the needs of his poetic purpose. The work requires a considerable amount of study for its finished performance, as well as a knowledge and understanding of its source of inspiration. Heard at its best it is a magnificent solo piece, only surpassed by the composer's own two later sonatas, the Norse, Op. 57, and the Keltic, Op. 59.

1. The first movement is notable for its variety of tempo and expression, every page containing new indications as to these in the illuminating and characteristic English of the composer. He has told us that the movement as a whole typifies the coming of Arthur, and as such we may leave it. The traditional sonata form is freely adapted to the poetic requirements of the movement, but the result is rather ragged. The music itself, however, is deeply inspired and full of fire. The simple, yet pathetic second subject is recalled again in the slow movement.

2. The fanciful and "elf-like" scherzo movement was suggested to the composer by Dore's picture of a knight in a wood, surrounded by mythological forest folk. The music is imaginative and cleverly written, but MacDowell afterwards considered the movement as a whole to be "an aside" from the general content of the sonata. The present writer thinks that this scherzo may be omitted by a performer who satisfies himself that it is not an essential part of the Arthurian concept of the whole. If the sonata is played simply as programme music, however, it benefits by the inclusion of this movement.

3. This movement is headed, Tenderly, longingly, yet with passion, and is considered by many of the composer's admirers to be one of his most beautiful inspirations. It is, according to MacDowell himself, a musical representation of Guinevere, Arthur's lovely queen. Quite independent of the rest of the sonata, the movement is a tone poem of rare beauty, expressiveness and passion, although the melody entering at its eleventh bar connects it with the preceding movement.

4. The last movement represents the passing of Arthur. It is strikingly suggestive of the closing days of the Arthurian drama, the tragic note being often impressively struck, although not so definitely as in the Sonata Tragica. The import of the movement is satisfying to those who believe that the days of romance and chivalry closed with the fall of Arthur and his knights, despite the attempts in the Middle Ages to revive the past. The movement as a whole is physically exhausting, except to the very strong. The great climax arrives some way before the end of the work, the music seeming gradually to ebb away after it as though it were but recounting the last scenes of Arthur's death. The two final pages sadly recall the opening theme of the first movement, typifying the coming of Arthur. The coda is of moving tenderness, indicating the tragedy of Guinevere. A final and elevated outburst is heard and then the sonata ends with a prolonged chord. Altogether there is something very noble and beautiful about this sonata, from which the magnificence and surpassing power and beauty of the two later ones do not detract.



OPUS 51. WOODLAND SKETCHES, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1896 (P.L. Jung. Assigned, 1899 to Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. To a Wild Rose.

2. Will o' the Wisp.

3. At an Old Trysting-place.

4. In Autumn.

5. From an Indian Lodge.

6. To a Water-lily.

7. From Uncle Remus.

8. A Deserted Farm.

9. By a Meadow Brook.

10. Told at Sunset.

These widely known pieces were composed during the last part of MacDowell's residence at Boston, just before he left for New York to take up his duties as professor of music at Columbia University. In these Woodland Sketches we come for the first time to the point at which his pianoforte poems are absolutely responsive to elemental moods, unaffected in style and yet distinguished, free from commonplace, speaking with a personal note that is inimitable. They are, as a whole, mature Nature poems of an exquisite and charming order, beautiful not only for their outward manifestations, but for the deeper significance they give to their sources of inspiration.

1. To a Wild Rose (with simple tenderness). This is one of the most charming and well known of MacDowell's small pieces. It is founded on a simple melody of the Brotherton Indians, and has a poise of the most refined and beautiful order. The composer was always afraid of the less intelligent music lovers "tearing it up by the roots." A vocal arrangement has been made by Herman Hagedorn, but the words are sickly and commonplace in sentiment, and so unnaturally cramped, that the song is artistically worthless.

2. Will o' the Wisp (Swift and light; fancifully). This is a very imaginative piece, full of mysterious and shadowy lightness, and swift of movement. It seems to just float over the keys and in its general effect is fascinating and spirit-like, with dancing little lights flickering in the shadows.

3. At an Old Trysting-place (Somewhat quaintly; not too sentimentally). This is the shortest piece of the set, and is only thirty bars long. It is cramped into one page in the current edition of the sketches. The melody is tender, undulating and expressive and is supported by full but always clear chords, with typical modulations. The broadness of the chord writing, together with the general tone of the piece as a whole, seems to call for orchestral colouring and foreshadows MacDowell's most advanced period. As a whole, it is contemplative, expressing the wistfulness of one who stands at a quiet place, musing on bygone meetings there.

4. In Autumn (Buoyantly, almost exuberantly). MacDowell threw an irresistible joyous excitement into this piece (as he did later in the superb The Joy of Autumn, from New England Idyls, Op. 62). In Autumn opens with a brisk staccato theme, followed by little chromatic runs which seem to suggest the whistling of the wind through the tree-tops. A middle section brings a complete change of mood, as if questioning the elements. A mysterious and fanciful little passage leads to a resumption of the opening joy of existence. In short, this piece is most exhilarating, and pulsates with life and with an exuberance that is most infectious.

5. From an Indian Lodge (Sternly, with great emphasis). This is as strong and impressive a piece as MacDowell ever composed for the pianoforte. From the first bar the note of the stern stolidity of the Red man is struck. The rude, elemental power of the bare octaves of the introductory bars is unmistakable. The ensuing stolid oration, punctuated by emotionless grunts, is an ingenious musical sketch of a pow-wow scene in an Indian wigwam. The piece closes with a reminiscence of the last part of the introduction, first softly and then very loudly, the final chords being of orchestral-like sonority. The whole composition is one of the best in the set for showing MacDowell's ability to create atmosphere. The scene of the Indian lodge is unmistakable.

6. To a Water-lily (In dreamy, swaying rhythm). This is a remarkable little piece of lyrical tone painting. It is in the key of F sharp major, and is mostly played on the black keys. Its chords are rich and, except in the short middle section, scored on three staves, yet always with an effect of the utmost lightness of poise. The piece is vividly suggestive of a water-lily floating delicately on quiet water, but in the questioning little middle section something seems to disturb the water, and for a moment the flower rocks uneasily. The opening theme returns and the piece ends with the utmost delicacy of effect. To a Water-lily is generally admitted to be one of the most exquisite and perfect lyrics MacDowell ever composed for the pianoforte.

7. From Uncle Remus (With much humour; joyously). American youngsters delight in the negro tales of "Uncle Remus," and this piece opens with an unbridled joviality that continues to the end. There is a wealth of jolly humour that is delightfully frank and infectious without being commonplace. It is rich and real, with a breadth that was a captivating feature of MacDowell's personal sense of humour.

8. A Deserted Farm (With deep feeling). A deeper note is struck in this piece, the opening theme being very grave. Later a wistful tenderness comes over the whole, but the grave melody returns and in this mood the piece ends. The whole atmosphere of it is one of loneliness, and, except for a sonorous bar or two, its expression is subdued. It gives an impression of the quiet that hangs around an old country home long since deserted, where human life once existed with all its joys and sorrows.

9. By a Meadow Brook (Gracefully, merrily). This goes bubbling and sparkling along, now swirling round a little rock, now running over a little waterfall, but always going merrily on until softer and softer grows the tonality, finally vanishing from musical sight. The piece is purely a play of tone, but never shallow, for it suggests not only a particular type of Nature scene, but the significance of the beauty and goodness it symbolises.

10. Told at Sunset (With pathos). This piece is of some importance from the fact that it contains thematic allusions to two of the preceding numbers. It opens with a sad, reflective theme that is reminiscent of A Deserted Farm. It proceeds for nineteen bars, dying softly away high in the scale. After a moment's silence, a softly breathed, but firmly emphasised marching tune appears, marked Faster sturdily. It grows gradually louder until it is thundered out in its full strength, with something of the nervous accentuation peculiar to Elgar's music. It dies gradually away again, until nothing is left but a few last faint references to its sturdy quality. The grave theme of A Deserted Farm (No. 8) is now introduced (transposed a semitone lower than the original to F minor), freely altered, and infused with more intense expressiveness. The conclusion is dramatic, for after twenty-four bars of deep and tender contemplation comes an impressive silence—and then the stern and solemn chords of the latter part of the introduction to From an Indian Lodge are heard, first softly and then with virile orchestral fortissimo, and with this the piece closes.



OPUS 52. THREE CHORUSES, FOR MALE VOICES.

First Published, 1897 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Hush, hush!

2. A Voice from the Sea.

3. The Crusaders.

These part-songs are finely written and full of suggestiveness. Hush, hush! creates the atmosphere suggested by its title. A Voice from the Sea and The Crusaders are settings of some of the composer's own verses. The sea song tells of the north wind's wrath, the roaring sea on the rugged shore and of a woman with a torch, looking out into the darkness, moaning: "Thy will be done." The whole song graphically suggests the dangers of the sea. The third chorus is heroic and strong, not treating of the forces of nature, as does the preceding number, but with the bold, adventurous daring, fired with religious zeal, of the old Crusaders. The music of The Crusaders is worthy of its theme.



OPUS 53. TWO CHORUSES, FOR MALE VOICES.

First Published, 1898 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Bonnie Ann.

2. The Collier Lassie.

These are charming part-songs, and bear the composer's individual stamp. The groups of male voice choruses of Ops. 52, 53 and 54, present a fine aspect of MacDowell's work, although they are not of his most important output. Presumably a good reason why they are so seldom performed in Europe is that they are little known here; it is certainly not because their inspiration or effect is poor. The composer was conductor of the Mendelssohn Glee Club, an old-established American Male Voice Choir, about the date when these part-songs were written.



OPUS 54. TWO CHORUSES, FOR MALE VOICES.

First Published, 1898 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. A Ballad of Charles the Bold.

2. Midsummer Clouds.

These two choruses are some of the finest of MacDowell's little known part-songs for male voices, and are both written to his own lines. The first is a stirring ballad of olden times:—

_Duke Charles rode forth at early dawn Through drifting morning mists, His armour frosted by the dew Gleamed sullenly defiance....

... All day long the battle raged. And spirits mingled with the mist That wreathed the warring knights...._

Charles, although his charger is led by Death against the foe, himself falls a victim to the tireless Reaper.

The second chorus, Midsummer Clouds, is in pleasant contrast to the blood and war spirit of the first. In it we have the imaginative charm and beauty of lines like the following:—

Through the clear meadow blue Wander fleecy white lambs....

There is a certain depth about the song, however, as if the scenic suggestion is only a symbol of something greater and more human, and this feeling is increased by the last verse:—

And the light dies away As the silent dim shapes Sail on through the gloaming, Towards dreamland's gates.



OPUS 55. SEA PIECES, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1898 (P.L. Jung. Assigned 1899 to Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. To the Sea.

2. From a Wandering Iceberg.

3. A.D. 1620.

4. Starlight.

5. Song.

6. From the Depths.

7. Nautilus.

8. In Mid-Ocean.

The Sea Pieces contain some of the finest of MacDowell's suggestive tone poetry. They are chiefly remarkable for their exhibiting the composer's ability to suggest a big scene, or a dramatic or emotional content of far-reaching significance, in an incredibly small space. The power and breadth of some of the pieces is great, while their beauty of tone, displaying the powers of the pianoforte from pppp to fff, is rich and full in its harmonic construction. Although the chords seem to call for orchestral colouring, the effect is always clear and ringing on the pianoforte, whilst the melodies are some of the most noble and dignified of MacDowell's short pieces. As a contrast to the strength of some of the numbers in the set, others are of an exquisite and quiet beauty. Altogether the Sea Pieces make up one of the most superb pianoforte albums in existence, for they are tone poems of unsurpassed beauty, strength of character, nobleness of thought and unerring atmospheric suggestion, touching the high water mark of the composer's inspirations. Each piece is headed by a verse of the composer's own writing, except the first, sixth and seventh, which have single lines only. The poems are included in the published book of his verse.

1. To the Sea (With dignity and breadth). This is headed:—

Ocean, thou mighty monster,

and is a tone poem of remarkable power. It is but thirty-one bars in length and yet it contains more solid material, breadth and perfectly concentrated splendour than many an orchestral tone poem of symphonic proportions. The graduations of tone found in the piece are very fine and could only have been written by one who knew intimately the tonal resources of the modern pianoforte. The chord writing spreads over a wide area of the keyboard, but is remarkable for its clarity. It is indeed extremely difficult to call to mind any other composer who could have painted a tone picture so big in outlook and so complete in itself, in such a small space as MacDowell has done here.

2. From a Wandering Iceberg (Serenely). This piece suggests a towering iceberg gradually approaching, passing by in all its splendour, and going on toward realms of burning light. The tone variety ranges from as soft and smooth as possible to a virile, orchestral fff. The melody of the piece is very beautiful and the whole thing has a curious icy clearness about it that is remarkably realistic. The last seven bars contain music as tender and serene as anything MacDowell ever composed.

3. A.D. 1620 (In unbroken rolling rhythm). This represents the voyage of the pilgrim fathers and is a four-page piece, about double the length of the preceding two. Its character is generally stern, and the rolling of the lumbering ship is vividly suggested. The middle portion consists of a magnificent song marked Sturdily and sternly, but without change of rhythm. The tune is not beautiful, but it is strong and inspiring, and in these respects it is unique. Its power is remarkable even for MacDowell. As the preceding part gradually led up to the song, so in its repetition it gradually dies away, as if the ship had approached and passed by, bearing its load of the men, women and children who were to found the great Republic of the West.

4. Starlight (Tenderly). This is a tender and beautiful little inspiration. It has a melodic and harmonic outlook of the exquisite poise that marks MacDowell's finest work. The light and shade of the piece call for perfect control of tone production on the part of the performer. It is lighter and more finely conceived than the preceding pieces in this set, and is a very perfect tone suggestion of the loveliness of a quiet, starlit sea.

5. Song (In changing moods). This opens softly with a cheery song which has a rough and hearty chorus. A deeper emotion is sounded where the music is marked passionately, and after this comes a passage of wistful tenderness. The song is resumed, together with its chorus, but near the end the tender portion is recalled, and the piece ends with a subdued and thoughtful reminiscence of the air.

6. From the Depths (In languid swaying rhythm).This is one of MacDowell's greater inspirations and is headed:—

And who shall sound the mystery of the seas.

This is a magnificent tone poem. We first have a picture of the sea, calm, but sinister, and then we see it working up to its full power and fury in a storm. The gradations of tone range from a sombre, mysterious ppp to an fff of furious power. The writing is very full and rich, and there are passages of a stupendous strength and magnificence of effect seldom found outside MacDowell's own music.

7. Nautilus (Delicately, gracefully). This is headed:—

A fairy sail and a fairy boat

and is the gem of the set. The writing is of exquisite gracefulness and charm. The scenery, as the little voyage proceeds, is of fresh loveliness and constantly changing, while the curious, indecisive rhythm is unmistakably suggestive of an uncanny boat trip in quiet water. The whole piece is one of perpetual charm and delight to the ear.

8. In Mid-Ocean (With deep feeling). Here we find the deeper note struck again:—

Inexorable! Thou straight line of eternal fate....

The music of this piece is transporting in its majestic nobility and magnificent, sweeping strength. It is one of the most superb of MacDowell's short pieces. From the deep and sonorous opening bars, through passionately mounting fury, to the sombre and mysterious close—in all of it we are confronted with the work of an unmistakably inspired master. With this fitting, unsurpassed picture, not of the outward might of the sea alone, but of the mysterious, relentless and terrible beauty of its significance as Fate, MacDowell concluded his Sea Pieces—Tone poems of artistic supremacy, of inimitable strength and loveliness of expression, that will live as long as there are men and women who are stirred by the deep power of music to give expression to God's Creation.



OPUS 56. FOUR SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1898 (P.L. Jung. Later assigned to Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Long Ago, Sweetheart Mine.

2. The Swan Bent Low to the Lily.

3. A Maid Sings Light.

4. As the Gloaming Shadows Creep.

This is a very beautiful group of songs, made from the best of the composer's artistic material. They are of pure and uncommonly high quality, expressing happiness, tenderness and irresistible charm. The verses of each are the composer's own, those of the last number being after Frauenlob.

1. Long Ago (Simply, with pathos). This song has a sadness and tenderness which, together with its words, give it an irresistible appeal. The scene it suggests is that of an elderly couple, for whom life is drawing to a close, recalling the far-off days when their undying love for each other commenced. The expression of the music is very human and free from any commonplace sentiment.

2. The Swan Bent Low to the Lily (With much feeling). This song is an exquisite and charming little lyric.

3. A Maid Sings Light (Brightly, archly). This song has a captivating delightfulness and warns off a lad, lest he lose his heart to the fair maid who not only sings light, but loves light.

4. As the Gloaming Shadows Creep (Tenderly). This is one of MacDowell's finest songs. The words are "after Frauenlob," and were used previously by the composer in As the Gloaming Shadows Creep in Songs from the Thirteenth Century (without opus number) for Male Chorus. The music is very tender and beautiful in expression, and these qualities atone for the fact that the song does not always show a perfect alliance between words and music; its chief merit is in the outstanding quality of the latter.

Long Ago and A Maid Sings Light form one of the gramophone records made for "His Master's Voice" series by Alma Gluck. This lyric soprano has sung the two MacDowell songs with sympathy and perfect phrasing. The accompaniments were played by a Mr. Bourdon, who unfortunately disregarded the composer's tone and legato indications.



OPUS 57. THIRD SONATA, NORSE, IN D MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1900 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Impressively; at times with impetuous vigour.

2. Mournfully, yet with great tenderness.

3. With much character and fire.

The two last sonatas, the Norse, Op. 57, and, the Keltic, Op. 59, are MacDowell's most superb achievements, banishing for ever the mistaken and ignorant assertion that he was only a miniaturist in composition. The Norse sonata is separated by a wide gulf of progress from its predecessor, the Sonata Eroica, being greater in outlook, freer in form and altogether more strongly determined and personal in character. It has a more mature strength, nobleness and dignity, together with an inspiring and magnificent beauty and splendour of tone power. The subject of the work was one that MacDowell loved to dwell upon—the stirring tales of love and mighty heroism told in the ancient Norse sagas. The barbaric, but undoubtedly splendid spirit of those dim days seized upon his imagination as it did upon that of the English composer, Elgar, when he wrote his Scenes from the Sagas of King Olaf. The writing in the Norse sonata is of tremendous breadth and sweep of line, only surpassed by that of the Keltic sonata, (Op. 59), often calling forth the utmost power of which the modern pianoforte is capable and altogether ignoring the stretch of one pair of hands, which have to leap the huge chordal stretches very smartly. Notwithstanding this fullness of writing, however, the effect is always ringing and clear. The third and fourth of MacDowell's sonatas were dedicated by him to Grieg, but the printed copies of the former do not bear the inscription, though those of the Keltic do so.

1. The first movement opens darkly and sombrely, suggesting the lines of the verse that heads the sonata as a whole, telling of the great rafters in the hall at night, flashing crimson in the flickering light of a dying log fire. The strong voice of a bard rings out, and through this medium the tales of battles, love and heroic valour is told. The movement has passages of tremendous vigour, passion and depth, all painted with the unerring skill of the composer. The final bars are of fierce and elemental power.

2. The second movement opens with a theme of tender beauty. It develops into passionate strength, involving much intricacy of writing and wide spread chordal work.

3. The third and last movement (it will be noted that MacDowell abandons the scherzo movement in this sonata, as it had proved an aside in the two earlier ones) is impetuous and, as it proceeds, becomes increasingly difficult to play. The theme of the second movement is recalled in a passage of extreme pathos. The final coda is most impressive, beginning Dirge-like—very heavy and somber; five bars from the end there is a moment's silence, and then the opening theme of the first movement rings out and the sonata ends with the utmost breadth and strength.



OPUS 58. THREE SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1899 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Constancy (New England, A.D. 1899).

2. Sunrise.

3. Merry Maiden Spring.

The verses of these songs are MacDowell's own, and both words and music here go to make up song writing of an order that is rare in its beauty of expression, tender thought and pure lyricism.

In Constancy (New England, A.D. 1899), indicated Simply, but with deep feeling, we have one of MacDowell's best songs. It has a tenderness and wistfulness about it that is irresistible, and sung in the spirit of its words, which tell of an empty house and neglected garden, it is a very beautiful thing.

Sunrise, marked With power and authority, is short and tells of the sorrowful spectacle of a wrecked and broken ship. The actual scene, however, seems secondary to its own significance as a symbol of human life. The music is heavy after the style of certain of the composer's pianoforte Sea Pieces (Op. 55).

The third and last song, Merry Maiden Spring, is charming, with a singularly bright and captivating freshness. It is indicated to be sung Lightly, gracefully.



OPUS 59. FOURTH SONATA, KELTIC, IN E MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1901 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

Dedicated to Edvard Grieg.

1. With great power and dignity.

2. With naive tenderness.

3. Very swift and fierce.

The Keltic Sonata is generally considered MacDowell's supreme achievement, the great culmination of his evolution toward musical expression of immense and rare power. The sonata is a work of great breadth and vitality, and has a sweep of line and noble beauty of expression that is only equalled in the supreme efforts of genius, such as Beethoven's Appassionata sonata for instance. It is a most superb poetical romance, full of the passion and heroic fervour of the Celtic strain in MacDowell's own nature. It searched out his finest and deepest inspiration when he wrote it and it grew to be part of his very being afterwards. The whole thing is a reflection of the heroic and stirring romances in Celtic legend. It is full of a wild beauty and sorrow, and carries us back to those far-off days when men lived the lives that now to us seem mythical. The graduations of tone in the sonata range from pppp to ffff, and although its technical difficulties are considerable, they are worth conquering, which is more than can be said of many things over which the modern pianist takes infinite pains. The virtuoso aspect of the Keltic sonata, however, is always lost in the magnificent spirit of the music. All MacDowell's finest works require not mechanical technique only, but deep intellectual and poetical thought to bring out their finest qualities.

1. From the first bars the majesty of the work becomes apparent. The first movement as a whole is full of the fire of Celtic inspiration, tinged with a wild and piercing sorrow. The final page of it contains music of stupendous power, and the limit of extremity of tone contrast is reached in the two last bars, one of which is to be played pppp and the other ffff.

2. The second movement opens with a tender and exquisite beauty, but the music soon becomes impassioned, the dominant mood being that wild sorrow we have already referred to.

3. The final movement is generally dark and fierce, moving swiftly and of great technical difficulty. Near the end we notice the direction, Gradually increasing in violence and intensity, and later an unforgettable passage occurs With tragic pathos. The sonata ends with a fierce rush, of enormous and elemental power. The key to the meaning of the Keltic sonata is given in some lines of his own which MacDowell placed at its head, but they are only part of all that he expressed in it. They should be read together with the lines entitled Cuchullin in the book of his verses. Cuchullin was considered unconquerable and even his form, when at last frozen in death, awed all who saw it; and it is of the might and tragedy of this old figure in Celtic legend that the sonata seems to tell. The final pages of the last movement may be considered as a vivid expression of the scene which Standish O'Grady, whose work MacDowell loved, has so superbly described:—"Cuculain sprang forth, but as he sprang, Lewy MacConroi pierced him through the bowels. Then fell the great hero of Gael. Thereat the sun darkened, and the earth trembled ... when, with a crash, fell that pillar of heroism, and that flame of the warlike valour of Erin was extinguished." The stricken warrior made his way painfully to a tall pillar, the grave of some bygone fighter, and tied himself to it, dying with his sword in his hand and his terrifying helmet flashing in the sun. In O'Grady's words:—"So stood Cuculain, even in death-pangs, a terror to his enemies, for a deep spring of stern valour was opened in his soul, and the might of his unfathomable spirit sustained him. Thus perished Cuculain." ... Superb as these lines are, they are equalled in expression by the music of MacDowell's Keltic sonata.



OPUS 60. THREE SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1902 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Tyrant Love.

2. Fair Springtide.

3. To the Golden-rod.

This is the last song group that MacDowell published. It contains music of great charm and poetic beauty, with a grave tenderness that was ever his own. The verses are all from his pen and show his unusual literary gifts.

Tyrant Love (Lightly, yet with tenderness). This is the least fine of the three, and yet in itself it is a song of rare quality and far above the commonplace. The music is beautiful, although not free from distortion of the words.

Fair Springtide (Very slow, with pathos). This is one of the best and most mature of MacDowell's songs. It makes a lovely solo, full of sweet and tender sadness, seldom failing to move its hearers. Both as regards words and music, it comes straight from the soul of its composer.

To the Golden-rod (With tender grace). This is a pure and delectable piece of lyrical work, in MacDowell's most delightful style. The verse tells of a lissom maid whose wayward grace neither sturdy Autumn nor the frown of Winter can ever efface. The words are obviously fanciful, but the song has a graceful charm and fragrance.



OPUS 61. FIRESIDE TALES, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1902 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

Dedicated to Mrs. Seth Low.

1. An Old Love Story.

2. Of Br'er Rabbit.

3. Of Salamanders.

4. A Haunted House.

5. By Smouldering Embers.

These pieces show a significant change in the voice of MacDowell. A certain strange, farawayness of thought is apparent, and a grave tenderness that is not quite like anything he had previously written. The fine beauty of the previous short pieces here gives way to a new kind of serious and even sombre aspect, and indeed the composer seems to have entered on a new period. Unfortunately the next work after these Fireside Tales is the last music he published, and so the certainty of the commencement of a new period cannot definitely be established. The writing is much more masterly than in any of the earlier short pieces, including the Sea Pieces, even though these have greater spirit.

1. An Old Love Story (Simply and tenderly). This opens with the familiar flowing type of MacDowell melody, but with the succeeding section in D flat major, marked ppp, comes in a new and earnest expressiveness. After this the opening theme returns and the piece ends tenderly and subdued. An Old Love Story is, on the whole, quite characteristic, and certainly very beautiful. It seems to bring with it an atmosphere of fading, but still cherished, bygone happiness, and its thought is tender and wistful.

2. Of Br'er Rabbit (With much spirit and humour—lightly). This opens with a roguish and catching tune which is brilliantly worked out with much variety, droll humour, and masterly skill. The piece has, of course, an affinity with From Uncle Remus (Woodland Sketches, Op. 51), since Br'er Rabbit is Uncle Remus' chief hero; but the maturity and masterly handling of the material in Of Br'er Rabbit is unquestionably finer than anything in the earlier piece. MacDowell had much affection for his Br'er Rabbit creation, and it is certainly one of the most delightful of all his brighter compositions; the humour is so droll and so characteristic of himself.

3. Of Salamanders (As delicately as possible). This is a fanciful, intricate piece, but very delicate in effect. It is technically difficult to play, requiring an absolute control of finger work. It was rather a favourite with the composer. 4. A Haunted House (Mysteriously). This is one of the most imaginative and realistic of MacDowell's smaller pianoforte pieces. It opens very dark and sombre, developing into a wild and eerie fortissimo. The middle section requires swiftness of finger work to suggest the nervous expectancy aroused by the preceding mysteriousness. The ghost-like effect returns, then gradually recedes again into impenetrable gloom.

6. By Smouldering Embers (Musingly). This opens with a quiet, tender theme after the style of An Old Love Story. The piece is quite short, but displays a mastery both of harmony and counterpoint. The music is grave and deep, but very tender. The little middle section stands out in its almost passionate, but sonorous and controlled emotion. Toward the end, the music becomes very moving and subdued, dying away with careful and sensitive tone reduction. The impression left by this piece, and by the Fireside Tales as a whole, is that the composer was conscious of a heavy responsibility in his work; that he felt, as Elgar has explained, that "the creative artist suffers in creating, or in contemplating the unending influence of his creation ... for even the highest ecstacy of 'Making' is mixed with the consciousness of the sombre dignity of the eternity of the artist's responsibility."



OPUS 62. NEW ENGLAND IDYLS, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1902 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. An Old Garden.

2. Mid-Summer.

3. Mid-Winter.

4. With Sweet Lavender.

5. In Deep Woods.

6. Indian Idyl.

7. To an Old White Pine.

8. From Puritan Days.

9. From a Log Cabin.

10. The Joy of Autumn.

This album is the last work MacDowell published. It contains, not only some of his most beautiful and advanced lyrical tone poems, but, in Mid-Winter and From a Log Cabin, two of the most significant and inspired of all his shorter pieces. In the New England Idyls as a whole, we have the eloquence and poetry of MacDowell in its fullest maturity. The American atmosphere is strong in these pieces, the scene suggested by each one belonging unmistakably to New England. In addition to the expressive and suggestive power of these idyls, they possess a fragrance and freshness that are rare in music. Each piece is headed by a verse of the composer's, and it should also be noted that he has dropped his English directions as to expression, etc., and gone back to Italian. There is no great gain in this, for the terms he uses, although in the language traditionally employed for the purpose, are by no means always the actual terms of traditional standing; he simply took the unnecessary trouble to translate his English-thought directions into a foreign language. His Italian is not always that generally used in music.

1. An Old Garden (Semplice, teneramente). This opens with an expressive and tender little theme. In the middle part a beautifully formed lyricism appears. The opening theme eventually reappears and the piece ends with quiet, but rich and sonorous chords.

2. Mid-Summer (Come in sogno). This is a tone impression of a drowsy summer's day:—

... Above, the lazy cloudlets drift, Below, the swaying wheat....

It is exquisitely done, with the composer's usual unerring instinct for creating atmosphere. The technical mastery is finer than that shown in the Woodland Sketches, and the tonality ranges in the thirty-six bars of its length from fortissimo to softly breathed ppp, and at the end even pppp.

3. Mid-Winter (Lento). Here we find a piece of dramatic significance and great power. Its deeper meaning is expressed in the verses that head it:—

In shrouded awe the world is wrapped, The sullen wind doth groan, 'Neath winding-sheet the earth is stone, The wraiths of snow have flown.

And lo! a thread of fate is snapped, A breaking heart makes moan; A virgin cold doth rule alone From old Mid-winter's throne.

The piece opens with an impressive theme uttered ppp. The whole atmosphere soon becomes one of vast and solemn content, rising to an intense short outburst. Soon a new and rather bleak theme is heard with mournful, clashing harmonies; the whole effect is vividly recalled in From a Log Cabin, No. 9 of these idyls, the only piece in the set to equal this one in force. After some commentary, a series of three rushing, ascending scale passages are introduced, beginning pppp, then gradually becoming louder until they culminate on high and powerful chords. The opening theme reappears at the height of the climax and is expressed with passionate intensity. Gradually the music dies solemnly away again. The whole of this piece appears very different to anything of MacDowell's earlier work; its deep and almost fateful significance, together with its problematical character, is a bid for something even greater than the Sea Pieces (Op. 55).

4. With Sweet Lavender (Molto tenero e delicato). This piece opens with a tender and expressive theme, which is one of the most beautiful of the composer's inspirations. The passage marked la melodia con molto introduces that new and deeper note which is a feature in MacDowell's last two pianoforte albums. It breaks out presently into passionate longing, but the return of the sweet opening theme, ppp motto delicato, brings the feeling of quiet wistful contemplation back again. The verses at the head of the piece attribute its mood to the reading of a packet of old love letters.

5. In Deep Woods (Largo impressivo). This opens with loud and resounding chords, expressive of the majesty and beauty of American forests. At the eleventh bar a lovely theme enters, and the music from now onwards is written on four staves, but is always clear and fresh. As the full grandeur of the woods is felt, the theme takes on a splendid exultation, gradually sinking away as:—

... The mystery of immortal things Broods o'er the woods at eve.

The piece was one of the composer's favourites; he inscribed its opening bar on a portrait of himself which he gave to Mr. W.W.A. Elkin, his London publisher and friend.

6. Indian Idyl (Leggiero, ingenuo). This is a lovely tone poem, opening with a characteristic little figure reminiscent of the opening of the Love-Song in the Indian Suite for Orchestra (Op. 48). The theme is punctuated by little flute-like embellishments. The middle section, poco piu lento, is idyllic, with a perfectly balanced, swaying rhythm. In playing this portion, the left hand should describe an equal series of semicircles as it alights first on the low chord, and then on the single note two octaves higher. The opening theme returns with the flute-like embellishments prominent, but all heard softly, as from

... afar through the summer night Sigh the wooing flutes' soft strains.

7. To an Old White Pine (Gravemente con dignita). The characteristic feature of this piece is its sense of alternate mounting and declining strength. At about the middle of the movement a deeper solemnity is noticed, in a passage suggesting the swaying, gentle forest trees that whisper at the feet of the huge old pines of an American forest. Some expressive and ingenious little woodland touches are included in the quiet concluding bars.

8. From Puritan Days. "In Nomine Domini" (Con enfasi smisurata). A stern theme opens this piece, while a passage marked implorando seems to suggest the pious attitude of the immortal founders of the New England States. Soon the music becomes hurried and more impassioned, the pious, despairing motive being prominent. The opening theme is now thundered out fortissimo and the piece ends with a sense of stern and rock-like strength of character.

9. From a Log Cabin (Con profondo espressione). This piece, which should be played with great expression, stands on a level with Mid-Winter, No. 3 in this album. It strikes the new and sombre note already referred to and carries with it a sense of deep and vast import. The composer's unerring feeling for atmosphere is given full play. The piece as a whole is deep and problematic. The lines at its head:

A house of dreams untold, It looks out over the whispering tree-tops And faces the setting sun.

refer to MacDowell's log-cabin in which he used to compose, and they are the same that are inscribed over his grave. From a Log Cabin opens quietly, with a grave theme and a clashing accompaniment that produces a different effect to that of any of the composer's earlier work, but recalls vividly the bleak second theme of Mid-Winter. Some powerful though small climaxes may be noticed, and then a new theme is heard softly, con tenerezza, pensieroso, over a florid accompaniment. After this has run its course, it is followed by intensely passionate outbursts of sorrow, the whole culminating in a thunderous repetition of the first theme. This reappears with great solemnity, which is emphasized by tolling, drum-like strokes, in the bass. The close is mysterious and impressive; the widespread chords, the wailing, clashing discords in the final bar but one, and the far away last chord, pppp, all tend to increase the depth and mystery of the piece. From a Log Cabin is an inspired tone poem suggesting the atmosphere of a quiet evening in the woods, with the slow setting of the sun in the Golden West; a scene by which Nature often creates the sense of the mysterious more impressively and truly than any man-made attempts can equal. This view of declining day, the gradual shutting off of light and life, was strangely prophetic when MacDowell wrote it, for his own end came by a similar process in the form of an ever deepening gloom fatalling obscuring his mental light.

10. The Joy of Autumn (Allegro vivace). This is a splendidly exhilarating piece and the longest by far of the set. The music leaps along with the sheer joy of living, the themes being singularly fresh and bright. The whole number is written in a brilliant and masterly manner, requiring a polished pianoforte technique to secure its full effect, especially in the exultant whirl and rush in the final page. A comparison of this piece with the In Autumn of the Woodland Sketches (Op. 51) makes the great advancement of MacDowell in the technique of composition obvious even to the tyro. The Joy of Autumn is one of the most brilliant and spontaneous things in modern music; it is never commonplace, it is always MacDowel-like in spirit and artistic worth, and shows its author at the height of his maturity. With this joyous and beautiful piece, MacDowell bade farewell to his God-given creative art. Happily he did not know at the time that From a Log Cabin was to prove a truer-expression of his future; a prophetic description of the tragic end of his life.



WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBERS

SIX LITTLE PIECES ON SKETCHES FOR PIANOFORTE, BY J.S. BACH,

Published by Arthur P. Schmidt.

1. Courante.

2. Menuet.

3. Gigue.

4. Menuet.

5. Menuet.

6. Marche.

These are illuminating little MacDowell-like adaptations of some sketches by "one of the world's mightiest tone poets," as MacDowell described J.S. Bach. They are charmingly and cleverly written, although not always satisfying, it is to be feared, to the strict purist.



FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR PIANOFORTE OF HARPSICHORD AND CLAVICHORD PIECES).

Published by Arthur P. Schmidt.

BOOK I:

1. Courante (Rameau).

2. Sarabande (Rameau).

3. Tempo di Minuetto (Grazioli).

4. Le Bavolet Flottant (The Waving Scarf)(Couperin).

5. Gigue (Mattheson).

6. Sarabande (Loeilly).



BOOK II:

7. Gigue (Loeilly).

8. La Bersan (Couperin).

9. L'Ausonienne (Couperin).

10. Aria from Handel's "Susanna" (Lavignac).

11. Gigue (Graun).

These pieces were much used by MacDowell in his lessons, as illustrations of eighteenth century music, and were published in two books about a dozen years after his death. They have not met with unanimous approval, for his transcriptions of the old pieces for the harpsichord and clavichord, in a manner suited to the modern pianoforte, is considered by many purists to be too free. The fact is that in their original form they are quite unsuitable for the modern pianoforte, being far too slight. MacDowell has, for many of us, done the right thing by filling in their implied harmonies and otherwise bringing out their qualities, so that they may be done justice under present-day keyboard conditions.



TWO SONGS FROM THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, FOR MALE CHORUS.

First Published, 1897 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. Winter Wraps his Grimmest Spell.

2. As the Gloaming Shadows Creep.

These are two effective male-voice choruses. The first number being a setting of MacDowell's lines after Nithart, and the second of verses by the composer, inspired by Frauenlob. These latter beautiful lines were also used in number four of the Four Songs, Op. 56.

MacDowell composed three part-songs for Female-Voice Choir. They have no opus numbers and are entitled:—

_Summer Wind_. _Two College Songs:

1. Alma Mater.

2. At Parting_.

They are well written and effective, the College Songs being particularly interesting, while Summer Wind has one of the composer's beloved nature subjects as its inspiration. Published by Arthur P. Schmidt.

In addition to the Six Little Sketches on pieces by Bach, and the pieces contained in the albums entitled From the Eighteenth Century, MacDowell also revised and edited for the pianoforte the following compositions:—

Alkan-MacDowell, Perpetual Motion. Cui, Cradle Song. Dubois, Sketch. Geisler, Episode. Geisler, Pastorale. Geisler, The Princess Ilse. Glinka-Balakirev, The Lark. Huber, Intermezzo. Lacombe, Etude. Liszt, Eclogue. Liszt, Impromptu. Martucci, Improviso. Moszkowski, Air de Ballet. Moszkowski, Etincelles. Pierne, Allegro Scherzando. Pierne, Cradle Song. Pierne, Improvista. Reinhold, Impromptu. Rimsky-Korsakov, Romance in A flat. Stcherbatcheff, Orientate. Ten Brink, Gavotte in E minor. Van Westerhout, Gavotte in A. Van Westerhout, Momenta Capriccioso.

All Published by Arthur P. Schmidt.

The following compositions were arranged for Male-Voice Choir by MacDowell:—

Beines, Spring Song. Borodine, Serenade. Filke, The Brook and the Nightingale. Moniuszko, The Cossack. Rimsky-Korsakov, Folk Song. Sokolow, Spring. Sokolow, From Siberia. Von Holstein, Bonnie Katrine. Von Woss, Under Flowering Branches.

All Published by Arthur P. Schmidt.

MacDowell also wrote Technical Exercises for the Pianoforte (2 Books), in addition to the Studies comprising Ops. 39 and 46. They were at one time obtainable from Arthur P. Schmidt.



TRANSCRIPTIONS.

A number of well-known MacDowell pianoforte pieces have been transcribed for other instruments. The transcriptions are all published by Arthur P. Schmidt, and are as follows:—



ORGAN.

SIX TRANSCRIPTIONS, SERIES 1.

By Frederick N. Shackley.

_Idylle_ (_Starlight, _Op. 55, No. 4_).

_Pastorale_ (_To a Wild Rose, _Op. 51, No. 1_).

_Romance_ (_At an Old Trysting Place, _Op. 51, No. 3_).

_Legend_ (_A Deserted Farm, _Op. 51, No. 8_).

_Reverie_ (_With Sweet Lavender, _Op. 62, No. 4_).

_Maestoso_ (_A.D. 1620, _Op. 55, No. 3_).



SIX TRANSCRIPTIONS, SERIES 2.

By C. Charlton Palmer.

Nautilus (Op. 55, No. 7).

_Andantino_ (_Romance, _Op. 39, No. 3_).

_Sea Song_ (_Song, _Op. 55, No. 5_).

_Meditation_ (_By Smouldering Embers, _Op. 61, No. 6_).

_Melodie_ (_To a Water Lily, _Op. 51, No. 6_).

_In Nomine Domini_ (_From Puritan Days, _Op. 62, No. 8_).



VIOLIN AND PIANOFORTE.

To a Humming Bird (From Six Fancies).

_To a Wild Rose_ (_From _Op. 51_). Original and simplified editions.

_Clair de Lune_ (_From _Op. 37_).

_With Sweet Lavender_ (_From _Op. 62_).



VIOLONCELLO AND PIANOFORTE.

WOODLAND SKETCHES. _Op. 51.

Arranged by Julius Klengel.

To a Wild Rose.

At an Old Trysting Place.

To a Water-Lily.

A Deserted Farm.

Told at Sunset.



SELECTED ALBUMS.

Useful albums for those who desire an introduction to MacDowell's music are as follows:—

IN PASSING MOODS.

Album of selected Pianoforte Pieces.

1. Prologue.

2. Alia Tarantella.

3. An Old Love Story.

4. Melody.

5. The Song of the Shepherdess.

6. A Deserted Farm.

7. To the Sea.

8. Danse Andalouse.

9. From a Log Cabin.

10. Epilogue.



ALBUM OF SELECTED SONGS.

(Low or High Voice.)

1. Thy Beaming Eyes.

2. The Swan Bent Low.

3. O Lovely Rose.

4. Deserted.

5. Slumber Song.

6. A Maid Sings Light.

7. To a Wild Rose.



MACDOWELL LITERATURE.

MacDowell's Critical and Historical Essays (Lectures delivered at Columbia University), referred to earlier in this book, are published in America by Arthur P. Schmidt and in England by Macmillan & Co., Ltd. His Verses, a book of beautiful poetic inspirations, is published solely by Arthur P. Schmidt. An enthusiastic study of MacDowell, by Lawrence Gilman, an American musical critic, is published by John Lane & Co., in New York and London. Arthur P. Schmidt & Elkin & Co. stock all three books.



EDGAR THORN PIECES.

The following pieces were published by MacDowell under the pseudonym of Edgar Thorn. He stipulated that the royalties resulting from their sale should be paid to a nurse who was at one time needed in his household. They are mature pieces, although slight in form.



AMOURETTE, FOR PIANOFORTE.

This is a charming piece, published separately. It is characteristic, although not deeply inspired.

FORGOTTEN FAIRY TALES, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1897 (P. L. Jung). Assigned, 1899, to Arthur P. Schmidt,

1.Sung Outside the Prince's Door.

2. Of a Tailor and a Bear.

3. Beauty in the Rose-Garden.

4. From Dwarf-land.

These trifles are of a refined and genuinely poetical order, possessing all the composer's suggestive tone poetry in a light garb.

1. Sung Outside the Prince's Door (Softly, wistfully). This opens with a tender and expressive theme. The middle section, Pleadingly, is described by this indication. Altogether, the piece is a little gem, full of sweet and wistful expressiveness.

2. Of a Tailor and a Bear (Gaily, pertly). This is a fanciful little piece, the antics of the bear being happily suggested. The tunes are lively and the whole thing has a delightful old-world atmosphere about it. Some of the marks of expression are very characteristic, including, Growlingly, clumsily, etc.

3.Beauty in the Rose-Garden (Not fast; sweetly and simply). A pleading little theme opens this number. The middle section, indicated Well marked, almost roughly, has a touch of passion in its feeling. The resumption of the opening tune is marked Sadly, and the piece concludes rather beautifully, with great tenderness.

4. From Dwarf-land (Merrily, quaintly). This opens with a merry theme, and is full of quaint and delightful little touches.



TWO PIECES, IN LILTING RHYTHM, FOR PIANOFORTE.

These two pieces are explained by their titles and are of little importance.



SIX FANCIES, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1898 (P.L. Jung). Assigned 1899, to Arthur P. Schmidt.

1. A Tin Soldier's Love.

2 .To a Humming Bird.

3. Summer Song.

4. Across Fields.

5. Bluette.

6. An Elfin Round.

This is a characteristic album, the pieces in it being imaginative and suggestive, in tone poetry, of their subjects, although not of the composer's deepest inspiration.

1.A Tin Soldier's Love (Gently, with Feeling). This little piece opens with a sweet and simple theme, followed by a toy-like march tune, and these make up the material of the piece.

2. To a Humming Bird (As fast and light as possible). There is nothing very striking about this piece. It is imaginative, and when played at the required speed, with lightness of touch, is effective. It has been arranged as a violin solo with pianoforte accompaniment.

3. Summer Song (Not fast). This is characteristic of MacDowell in its clear-sounding harmonies, and has a certain charm and fragrance of its own.

4. Across Fields (Lightly and joyously). This piece opens with a happy and characteristic tune. The whole atmosphere suggested in its two pages is singularly bright, sunny and fresh.

5. Bluette (Gracefully). This is the most MacDowell-like piece of the Six Fancies, some of its rich harmonies and characteristic key transitions being reminiscent of the composer's finer work.

6. An Elfin Round (Very swift and light). The full effect of this piece can only be felt if it is played at a great speed, with extreme lightness of touch. The feeling is not very deep, as the occasion does not demand it, but it is a fanciful and suggestive little creation.



PART-SONGS.

(Published under the Pseudonym of Edgar Thorn.)

The Witch.

War Song.

The Rose and the Gardener.

Love and Time.

All Published by Arthur P. Schmidt.

These part-songs are extremely interesting and effective, particularly in the MacDowell-like manner in which they convey musical suggestions of their literary content.



ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO MACDOWELL'S WORKS

The works of MacDowell are reviewed in this book in order of opus number, and the following index will enable the reader to find the account of any piece of which he knows the title, but not the number. Works without opus numbers are dealt with after those having one.