the composer.

Mr. W.W.A. Elkin—Information and loan of scores.

Mr. Charlton Keith—Loan of D minor Pianoforte Concerto.

Messrs. J. and W. Chester, Ltd.—Information.

CONTENTS

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

MACDOWELL AS COMPOSER

MACDOWELL THE MAN

THE MACDOWELL COLONY

REPRODUCTION OF A MACDOWELL LETTER

THE MUSIC:

WORKS WITH OPUS NUMBERS

WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBERS

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO MACDOWELL'S WORKS

EDWARD MACDOWELL

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

EDWARD ALEXANDER MACDOWELL was born in New York City, U.S.A., on December 18th, 1861, of American parents descended from a Quaker family of Scotch-Irish extraction who emigrated to America about the middle of the 18th Century. He was their third son. As a boy he studied the pianoforte with Juan Buitrago, a South American, Pablo Desvernine, a Cuban, and for a short time with the famous Venezuelan pianist, Teresa Carreño. He also indulged in childish composition on his own account. He was not a "wonderful" pupil and did not like the drudgery of practising "exercises."

When he was fourteen years of age he went to France, accompanied by his mother, to study pianoforte playing and the theory of music at the Paris Conservatoire under Marmontel and Savard respectively. Here one of his fellow students was Debussy, even then looked upon as having curious and unconventional ideas on his art.

MacDowell had also to learn the French language, and the person who taught him French discovered that the young American had a decided gift for drawing. He showed one of the boy's sketches to a teacher at the School of Fine Arts, who offered to take the boy as a pupil for three years free of charge, and to be responsible for his maintenance during that time.

With his striking imaginative powers and love of Nature, and his appreciation of Historical and Legendary lore, it is very probable that MacDowell might have become distinguished as a painter had he applied himself to painting, for he was a born artist and very fond of sketching, but he refused the offer on the advice of his music teachers, and continued his studies at the Conservatoire.

After persevering for a couple of years he grew dissatisfied with the tuition he was receiving, and upon hearing Nicholas Rubinstein play, he determined to go elsewhere.

Careful discussion with his mother resulted in their selection of Stuttgart, Germany, whither they accordingly removed, MacDowell entering the Conservatorium there. Here he was soon convinced, however, that the instruction given there was of no use to him, and after having studied under Lebert and Louis Ehlert and having been refused a hearing by Hans von Büllow, he left Stuttgart and entered the Frankfort Conservatorium, where his teachers were Raff, the Principal, for composition, and Carl Heymann for pianoforte playing. Raff was kind and encouraging to the young American, and once said to him, "Your music will be played when mine is forgotten." The influence of Raff's teaching is evident in a number of MacDowell's early compositions, especially the Forest Idyls, Op. 19, and the First Suite for Orchestra, Op. 42.

In 1881 Heyman resigned and nominated MacDowell as his successor, a proposal seconded by Raff. The gifted American, however, possessed the criminal fault, in the eyes of jealous and intolerant old men, of being young; the fact that he was quite capable of filling the vacant post was, to them, a secondary consideration, and he was rejected.

He now began to take private pupils, and among them was an American girl, Marian Nevins, who was to become his wife about three years afterwards; the Forest Idyls, Op. 19, are dedicated to her. Although he had failed to obtain the vacant professorship at Stuttgart, MacDowell was appointed head teacher of the pianoforte at the Conservatorium in the neighbouring town of Darmstadt. His work here was soul-killing in its drudgery and he soon relinquished it.

Apart from his teaching labours, MacDowell had, in the meantime, been composing steadily, and had also been appearing at local orchestral concerts as solo pianist, and in 1882 Raff sent him to Liszt armed with his First Pianoforte Concerto, Op. 15. The mighty old Hungarian praised the work highly and also seemed impressed with MacDowell's playing. He was kind to the struggling young American, eventually accepted the dedication of the concerto, and recommended the performance and publication of some of MacDowell's earlier compositions, notably the First Modern Suite, Op. 10, and the Second Modern Suite, Op. 14.

Composition now became more and more the dominating feature in the development of MacDowell's musical genius, although he was still obliged to teach for his living.

He was fortunate in being able to persuade local conductors to try over his orchestral works, a thing that was practically impossible in his own country, as he afterwards found. In June, 1884, he returned to the United States, and in the following month (July 21st) he married his former pianoforte pupil, Marian Nevins, in whom he was to find complete happiness and a devoted companion and sympathiser. In the same year Mr. and Mrs. MacDowell returned to Frankfort, after having visited England.

In 1885 MacDowell applied for a professorship at the English
Royal Academy of Music, but Lady Macfarren, wife of the
Principal, was instrumental in securing his rejection on account
of his youth, nationality and friendship with Liszt, who, in
English Victorian academic eyes, was too "modern."

In 1887 MacDowell and his wife, they having returned to Germany,
bought a little cottage in the woods some distance from
Wiesbaden. They were very friendly with Templeton Strong, another
American composer, some of whose works have been played at the
Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts in London.

In September, 1888, the MacDowells sold their German cottage and returned to their native country, electing to make their home in Boston, Mass.

MacDowell found that his European reputation and his music had preceded him to America, and he was well received on the occasion of his first concert in his native country. Most notable were his successes when he played his Second Pianoforte Concerto, in D minor (Op. 23), at important orchestral concerts in New York and Boston.

In 1889 MacDowell played his D minor concerto in Paris, where more than twelve years before he had been a student, and it was after his return from this visit to France that his fame as a pianist and composer began to spread freely in America. In 1890 his Second Symphonic Poem, Lancelot and Elaine (Op. 25), was played under Nikisch at Boston.

The year 1891 was a successful one for MacDowell, for it saw two performances of a large orchestral work, First Suite, in A minor, he had just completed; the production of his symphonic Fragments (Op. 30); and his first pianoforte recital in America.

MacDowell's prestige continued to grow steadily. He was invariably received with enthusiasm on the numerous occasions of his public appearances as a pianist, while each new composition he issued was remarkably well received by the public and the newspaper musical critics. The Boston Symphony Orchestra was especially encouraging to him, placing both his "Indian" Suite, Op. 48, and his