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£1
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Humiston, William H. MacDowell
Presented to the LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
D. M. Moncrieff
LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES
MACDOWELL
BREITKOPF PUBLICATIONS* Inc.
NEW YORK CITV
Little Biographies
®jy WILLIAM H. HUMISTON 'foith illustrations
r
MACDOWELL
BREITKOPF PUBLICATIONS, Inc.
1625 BROADWAY
NEW YORK
Copyright 1921
By BREITKOPF & HARTEL, Inc. New York
FOREWORD
LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES are published with the follow- ing points in view :
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LAST BUT NOT LEAST, for the layman, who will find a summary of all important historical facts, written interestingly and briefly.
Li<t of LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES
Series I Musicians
Bach, J. S. Moussorgsky, M.
Beethoven, L. van Mozart, W. A.
Bellini, V. Ornstein, Leo
Berlioz, H. Paderewsky, I. J.
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Borodin, A. P. Palestrina, G. P. Brahms, Joh. . Powell, Maud
Biilow, Hans von Puccini, G.,
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Chopin, F. Ravel, M.
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Friedman, Ignaz. Schonberg, A.
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Gounod, Ch. Scriabin, A.
Grieg, Edw. Sibelius, J.
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EDWARD MAcDOWELL
AMERICAN composers are now beginning to be recognized in Europe. This may mean much, it may mean little, for "contemporary com- posers," even of genius, are often unrecognized by those near them, and still less by those of other countries. Musical eclecticism is rarer than is gen- erally thought — a country often unduly neglects its own in favor of foreigners, or it may greatly prefer the product of its often mediocre home composers to the masterpieces of composers abroad. This country is emerging from the first-mentioned class; it is to be hoped that in its appreciation of its own it will stop at the proper point and not become a member of the second..
One of the first American composers to be recog- nized in Europe was Edward MacDowell. His first recognition was obtained during his European resi- dence, and through works which showed European influence. The question is still open as to what constitutes American quality in music, but Mac- Dowell eventually found a way to express his own individuality; and as a nation's individuality is a composite of the individualities which go to make up the sum total, MacDowell thus contributed his share toward the individuality of American music. As to the question whether negro or "Indian" elements will contribute to this composite individuality, it is not important. If an American composition turns out to be a great work, it will matter very little whether the themes are derived from Choctaw or Chinese sources, or the composer's own brain. If a given work, say MacDowelPs "Indian Suite," is a master- piece, what matter whence its materials are drawn? As a matter of fact, in the case of the "Indian Suite" though several of its themes are taken note for note
from Indian sources, the general contour of the whole work is far more "MacDowellish" than Indian.*
Lawrence Gilman speaks of MacDowell as "the first Celtic voice that has spoken commandingly out of musical art." This is, of course, a reference to his ancestry, which is Scotch and Irish. Alexander MacDowell, born in Belfast of a Scotch father and an Irish mother, came to America early in the nine- teenth century and settled in New York. His son, Thomas, born in New York, was married in 1856, to Frances M. Knapp, of English descent.
Edward MacDowell was born on December 18, 1861,. in New York City (220 Clinton Street, to be exact), the third son of Thomas and Frances Mac- Dowell. From both parents he inherited artistic tastes, from his father particularly an ability to sketch which almost made a painter of him. When he was eight years old, he had his first piano lessons from Juan Buitrago, a South American musician, from Bogota, Columbia. The boy showed great versatility — he cared more for his sketching and experimenting with tonal effects than he did for technical drudgery; he tried his ability also at inventing fairy tales and writing verse. All these gifts finally converged into musical expression. After some years with Mr. Bui- trago, he began piano lessons with Mr. Paul Desver- nine ; with occasional help from Teresa Carreno, who afterward did so much to make his music known.f
In April, 1876, it was decided that he should study abroad, and his mother took him to Paris. Here he studied privately with Marmontel, who, a year later, advised MacDowell to compete for a scholarship at the Conservatory; there were soon to be two vacan- cies. There were nearly three hundred applications,
* It is certainly unfortunate that the term "Indian" — i. e., pertaining to India — came to be applied to the American aborigines. MacDowell preferred to refer to this as his "second orchestral suite," and the designer of the original title page decorated it wifh a lotus-flower!
t On ot*_ of Carrefio's European tours, when MacDowell's Second Concerto was still new, she made her engagements contingent on being allowed to play that concerto. The scherzo was usually so much applauded that it had to be repeated.
and one of the scholarships was won by the Ameri- can boy.
< Among his fellow pupils at the Conservatory was Claude Debussy.*
As a necessary element in his progress in a Paris school it became necessary for him to study French. One day in class he surreptitiously made a sketch of his teacher, who discovered it just as it was being finished. Instead of being offended the teacher was much impressed; and the incident led to an offer from Carolus Duran to take MacDowell for three years' free tuition. This was declined after much weighing of pros and cons. But the boy with the restlessness of his youth became discontented and left Paris for Stuttgart. This was not very satis- factory either — the teaching methods there were Pro- crustean and pedantic to an extreme. So MacDowell and his mother went to Frankfort, where Joachim Raff headed the Conservatory, and Carl Heymann was to be a piano instructor there. In Wiesbaden, about the end of 1878, they heard Heymann play and decided to go to him. He was not to begin his teach- ing at the Conservatory till the following autumn, so MacDowell remained in Wiesbaden studying com- position with Louis Ehlert while his mother returned to America. Ehlert thought Heymann not the best man for MacDowell to go to, and wrote to von Biilow, who replied that he "could not waste his time on an American boy." So MacDowell went to Frankfort, after all, and studied composition with Raff and piano with Heymann for two years. When Heymann left the Conservatory on account of ill health, in 1881, he recommended MacDowell as his successor, Raff seconding the suggestion. But there were professors in the Conservatory who had not approved of Heymann, because, as MacDowell wrote, he "dared to play the classics as if they had been written by men with blood in the.ir veins." Besides, the candidate was very young — nineteen — and he was not appointed. He continued as a private pupil of
* The late Henri Pene Du Bois once told Lawrence Gilman that Debussy was not only very fond of MacDowell as a fellow student, but greatly admired his music.
Heymann, and began to take pupils on his own account. Among these was an American girl, Miss Marian Nevins, who later became Mrs. Edward Mac- Dowell. Securing the position of principal piano teacher at the Conservatory in Darmstadt, it proved to be rather irksome and uninteresting, and Mac- Dowell soon gave it up. In 1882, at Raff's advice, he went to Liszt in Weimar, taking his first piano concerto. Liszt, always ready to encourage the first manifestations of genius, had him play the concerto with d'AIbert at the second piano. Liszt not only praised the concerto, but the composer's playing of it, and when MacDowell, shortly after, sent him a manuscript copy of his "Modern Suite" (the first one) Liszt wrote him a cordial note, saying he would be glad to recommend it for the program of the General Society of German Musicians, where MacDowell played it on July n, 1882, with much success. Thereupon he wrote a "Second Modern Suite" and Liszt recommended them both to Breitkopf and Hartel, who published them — the first of MacDowelPs works to be printed. Liszt accepted the dedication of the concerto in an appreciative letter.
MacDowell now began to give more time to com- position, "and wrote also for orchestra, being encour- aged by conductors of "Cur-orchestras" — orchestras at various health resorts — who willingly tried over his new works at rehearsals. In this way he secured a practical knowledge of orchestration — a privilege not possible nowadays with rehearsals costing three dol- lars a minute ! Some songs and piano pieces, in- cluding the much played "Witches' Dance," belong to this period. In June, 1884, MacDowell returned to America for his marriage with Miss Marian Nevins, which took place July 21, at Waterford, Connecti- cut, "a union which," says Lawrence Gilman, "for perfection of sympathy and closeness of comrade- ship, was, during the quarter century it was to en- dure, nothing less than ideal." The MacDowells now went to Europe, stopping at London for a time- where inspiration was received from performances by Henry Irving and Ellen Terry for the symphonic poems "Hamlet" and "Ophelia," and another on
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"Beatrice and Benedick" — the latter was abandoned, but the thematic material later became the scherzo of the second Piano Concerto.
The MacDowells finally reached Frankfort, where, finding his old pupils scattered, MacDowell gave him- self more diligently to composition. Here he finished "Hamlet and Ophelia," some piano pieces for four hands — some of which had been originally designed as little tone pictures for orchestra, and began the second Piano Concerto. , In 1885 he went to London, as he had been recommended as a successor to an old friend, Lindsay Deas, whose death had left vacant the position of examiner for the Royal Academy of Music in Edinburg. His "modern tendencies," his youth, his nationality, his friendship for "that dread- ful man, Liszt," all were against him, and he was rejected.
The MacDowells then returned to Germany, this time settling in Wiesbaden, where they spent the winter of i885-'86. The first piano concerto had just been published ; the second was finished ; "Hamlet" and "Ophelia" were published ("Two Poems for Orchestra" — afterward the composer altered the title to "First Symphonic Poem: (a) Hamlet; (b) Ophelia"). In the spring of 1887 the MacDowells bought a small cottage on the edge of the woods near Wiesbaden, there was a half acre of ground for a garden, and the two settled down there for work. Here were composed the symphonic poems "Lancelot and Elaine" and "Lamia" ; "The Saracens and Lovely Alda" which are really symphonic poems, though not so styled ; piano pieces — including "The Eagle" ; songs, including the set of six entitled "From an Old Garden" "Menie" and "My Jean" ; and some songs for male chorus. "Hamlet and Ophelia" was per- formed in several cities, Carreno played the "Second Modern Suite" at a recital in New York, and there were other performances — the young composer's repu- tation was growing. MacDowell's patriotism, always a powerful urge within him, now begun to suggest' his return to his native land to take up his share in its artistic development. So in September, 1888, the Wiesbaden cottage was sold and the MacDowells
settled in Boston. The young American tone-creator found himself not without honor in his own country — he made his first public appearance at a concert given by the Kneisel Quartet in Chickering Hall, Boston, November 19, 1888, when he played part of his "First Modern Suite," and the piano part in Gold- mark's B flat at Quintet. On March 5, 1889, Mac- Dowell played his second concerto — its first public performance — with Theodore Thomas in New York. It was charactertized by Mr. Krehbiel as "a splendid composition, so full of poetry, so full of vigor, as to tempt the assertion that it must be placed at the head of all works of its kind produced by either a native or adopted citizen of America." A month later Mac- Dowell played it in Boston, and it was received with equal cordiality. In the summer the MacDowells went to the Paris Exposition — where the composer again played the concerto — and they returned to America in the fall.
Boston continued to be the scene of MacDowell's activities as pianist, teacher, and composer for eight years — during this time he composed more piano pieces including "Les Orientates" ; the "Marionettes" (afterwards revised and augmented) ; "Twelve Studies" opus 39; the first two sonatas, "Tragica" and "Eroica" ; the "Virtuoso Studies" and the "Wood- land Sketches" Among the songs were the "Six Love Songs" opus 40; the "Eight Songs" of opus 47, the Cradle Song and Dance of the Gnomes for male chorus. During this period also were composed the two orchestral suites, opus 42, known as the "Wood- land Suite" (on account of the sub-title to the various movements, "In a Haunted Forest" "Forest Spirits" etc.), though not so entitled by its composer; and the "Indian Suite" The first suite was played at a Worcester festival and later at a Boston Symphony Concert under Arthur Nikisch — there were other per- formances, including one of "The Saracens and Lovely A Ida" .On November 6, 1891, MacDowell gave a piano recital, playing, besides pieces by Bach, Schubert and others, some of his own works — the "Witches Dance" "Shadow Dance" "The Eagle"
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"Concert Etude" the prelude from the first suite and the fourth of the "Idyls After Goethe." Another re- cital was given the following January, eliciting high praise from Philip Hale. The composer played his "Sonata Tragica" at a Kneisel Quartet Concert, win- ning warm eulogies from William F. Apthorp. On December 14, 1894, MacDowell played his second con- certo with the Philharmonic Society of New York, Anton Seidl conducting. Henry T. Finck, in the Evening Post, characterized this performance as "a success such as no American musician has ever won before a Metropolitan concert audience — he had an ovation such as is accorded only to a popular prima donna at the opera. For once a prophet had great honor in his own country." "Here is one young man," said William J. Henderson, "who has placed himself on a level with the men owned by the world." "Dramatic in feeling, moulded largely, and its themes musically eloquent, it sounds a model of its kind" — was the comment of James Huneker. Some piano re- citals in New York come next in chronological order, then on January 29, 1896, the Boston Symphony placed both the "Indian Suite" and the first concerto — the composer playing the solo part — on the program of a concert given in New York: a performance the writer of these lines considers it one of the greatest privi- leges of his life to have heard.
The Department of Music in Columbia University was founded in the spring of 1896 by a fund given to the trustees by Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Ludlow — the professorship on this foundation was offered to Mac- Dowell in May of that year. There was much anxi- ous consideration as to the advisability of Mac- Dowell's accepting — his position, both financially and artistically, in Boston was assured ; and he would have tc build up from the beginning a new depart- ment in a large university. But there was the op- portunity of probably a larger usefulness, and from a material point of view, an assured income — which private piano teaching is not — and MacDowell de- cided to accept. In the following autumn, therefore, the MacDowells moved to New York and the work
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of organizing the department at Columbia was begun — lectures, historical and aesthetic; class work in harmony, counterpoint, and advance composition ; five courses of study, all told, and in addition much energy was consumed in planning and organizing. An assis- tant was appointed at the end of the second year, but still the work was onerous. In spite of it, how- ever, MacDowell managed to find time to teach talented pianists the principles of artistic interpreta- tion, and also to look at the ambitious attempts at composition of former pupils who had graduated from his classes — an inestimable favor which it was several times the privilege of the writer to enjoy. It must have taken infinite patience to correct die large number of exercises handed in, but he did so conscien- tiously and thoroughly, even enlivening his comments, written with a red ink pencil, with touches of humor — at times a bit sarcastic, but with never a sting in it. He could not manage to find time for his own compo- sition during the winter; this he accomplished at his summer home in Peterborough, New Hampshire — ac- quired just before he went to Columbia. At Peter- borough, although, as he once said, "it takes me a month to get this chalk dust off my hands," he com- posed his last two piano sonatas — the "Woodland Sketches" were also written in Peterborough, just before he moved to New York — the "Sea Pieces" "Fireside Tales," "New England Idyls"; three groups of songs, the very finest — aside from two or three in the Eight Songs, opus 47 — including "The Swan bent low to the Lily," "Sunrise" and "Fair Springtide." In 1899 MacDowell built a log cabin in the woods a few minutes' walk from his Peterborough house — the entrance to which from the road was thoroughly "camouflaged" and where he was absolutely free from interruption. Here he composed everything written since that date, and the Log Cabin has served as a model — not architecturally, but in its isolation — for the various studios which are now scattered over the five hundred acres of the "MacDowell colony," where creative artists in all the arts are invited to find the quiet surroundings most conducive to efficient work.
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In addition to the work already mentioned, Mac- Dowell acted as conductor of the Mendelssohn Glee Club for two seasons, and was president of the Manu- script Society for a time. During his sabbatical year, i9O2-'o3, he made a concert tour to the Pacific, and spent the next spring and summer abroad, ap- pearing in concert in London, playing his second con- certo. He returned to New York in October, 1903, and resumed his work at Columbia. But the incessant strain of work was beginning to tell on his health. During this year he also formulated plans which would have placed music and the other arts on a level in the university with philosophical studies and the "humanities" — a position to which they are en- titled, and which they sometimes get vicariously, through the artistic accomplishments of the ancient Greeks. But as Gilman says, "the field was not yet ripe for his best efforts." So, after much anxious thought over the matter, MacDowell handed in his resignation on January 18, 1904, to take effect at the end of the school year. The worry over this situa- tion, added to the cumulative effect of the continuous overwork for several years, caused a breakdown and in the spring of 1905, after a year of piano teaching, his brain began to refuse to work. A gradual decline began, which medical science was powerless to check. During the winters Mrs. MacDowell cared for him at the Westminster Hotel; during the summers he was taken to Peterborough. He gradually lost the power of speech entirely, but there were days, almost to the very end, when his face seemed as full of in- telligence as ever, and his smile as winning and friendly. On January 23, 1908, at the Westminster Hotel in New York, the spirit finally left the body, and after funeral services at St. George's Church, the body was taken to Peterborough, and buried near a huge boulder which now bears a bronze tablet with the words MacDowell wrote as a motto to the piano piece in the "New England Idyls" — "From a Log Cabin":
"A house of dreams untold,
It looks out over the whispering tree-tops
And faces the setting sun."
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MacDowell's earlier pieces were, like every one's else, imitative. His youthful pieces, never printed, show promise, but he rightly decided to suppress them. Some were destroyed, but others were kept for his own amusement. The earliest work printed is the First Modern Suite ; in its revised form, however, it is scarely representative of the period. The Second Suite has suggestions of the later MacDowell — so has the first concerto. The revision of the latter consists principally of a complete rewriting of the opening cadenza-like passages in the first and last move- ments; otherwise there are only a very few slight changes in melody or harmony. The themes of the first movement are well defined and well developed. The slow middle movement is a remarkable one for a boy of nineteen to write, with its beautiful serious- ness, its enchanting melodiousness. The last move- ment is extremely brilliant. The "Witches' Dance," number two of opus 17, came to be regarded by its composer with much the same sort of feeling that Paderewski has for his 'famous "Minuet." It is brill- iant, and not at all difficult, as such things go, though it is not a piece for easy sight reading. Of the "Woodland Idyls," opus 19, dedicated to Miss Marian Nevins (Mrs. MacDowell), the "Reverie" has proved popular, but the "Dance of the Dryads" — in its re- vised form — is the best of the four; it has Raff's woodland atmosphere without his diffuseness.
"Hamlet and Ophelia," the next work of any im- portance, was MacDowell's first orchestral work. Written when the composer was not yet twenty-three, it shows a fertility of invention and acquaintance with orchestral resources which are remarkable. Doubtless the latter was helped by the friendly re- hearsals of the "Curorchester." Opus 23 is the second concerto — published without "programme." The be- ginning of the first movement occurs in one of the composer's sketch books, entitled "Overture, King Arthur" — thus early showing MacDowell's fondness for the Arthurian Legends — while the second, as al- ready mentioned, was inspired by Irving and Terry's performance of "Much Ado About Nothing." There is no slow movement to this concerto — the introduc-
15
tions to the first and last movements are all that is written in slow tempo. The scherzo is a scintillating pianissimo. "Lancelot and Elaine" was inspired by Tennyson's poem. The instrumentation has been re- touched since publication, but the revision has never been printed.
After a group of five songs published as opus n and 12, MacDowell wrote no more in this form until opus 26, "From an Old Garden." (The two songs published as opus 9 belong chronologically much later.) Some of them are still popular. A group of songs for male voices, written in such a manner as to get as much variety as possible out of the rather monotonous clang-tint of only tenors and basses, comes next. "The Fisherboy" is the best, with the syncopated rhythm of the three lower voices suggest- ing the gentle lapping of the waves.
The composer's growing fondness for poetic sub- jects is shown in opus 28, "Six Idyls After Goethe" — these again were afterwards revised and improved.
Later on MacDowell began to write his own verse mottoes to his pieces, and even the texts to his songs, He defended poetic titles as an aid to the imagina- tion. When a composer affixes allegro or andante to a movement he means more than a. question of tempo, he means to, indicate its spirit — in fact those words have gradually become so conventionalized that a qualifying word is generally added — allegro vivace, andante maestoso. A poetic title is simply an ex- pansion of the idea contained in one or two more or less conventional Italian words. MacDowell never intended his poetic titles to be taken with absolute literalness, thus he occupied a position in regard to "programme music" half way between "absolute music"* and such literal pictorialness as Debussy's "Garden in the Rain," "Lamia," the third symphonic poem, composed in 1887 was not published until 1908,
*There is practically no such thing as "absolute music." Theoretically yes. Write a theme, develop it as you like, but put nothing in it to indicate any voice or instrument, say nothing about tempo or dynamics. The instant a ceit.-iin timbre is thought of, or the limitations of human performers, it ceases to be "absolute music."
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after the composer's death. He intended to revise it, and kept it in the printed list of his works; he dedicated it to Henry T. 'Finck, when he presented him with the original manuscript score just before he became ill. It is an advance on both the earlier sym- phonic poems, the thematic development is more con- sistent, the orchestral color richer. "The Saracens" and "Lovely Alda" are short symphonic poems based on two passages from the "Song of Roland," the first has a wild, barbaric, oriental rhythm; the second a quiet beauty in strong contrast to the mood of the first.
The piano set "Six Poems After Heine," opus 31, contains the popular "Scotch Poem" ; the next group "Four Little Poems" opus 32, contains the wellknown "Eagle," a bit of realistic tone painting which is full of musical beauty as well as pictorial quality. "Winter," in this group, is like the designs nature draws for us in the frost on the window-pane. After two groups of songs, containing the beautiful and touching "Menie," and some piano pieces which in- clude the lovely "Clair de Lune" (after Hugo) we come to a bit of musical humor in the "Marionettes." Humor in music is not new — Bach was capable of it (the ass's bray in "Phoebus and Pan"), Beethoven indulged in it frequently, so diet Wagner and Verdi (in Falstaff), and Gounod touched the same subject in his "Funeral March of a Marionette."
"Six Love Songs" opus 40, is best known by "Thy beaming eyes," but the group contains others equally good. Opus 42 has no official designation beyond "First Suite for Orchestra" "In a Haunted Forest," "Summer Idyl," "In October," "Shepherdess's Song," and "Forest Spirits," are the titles of these five charming woodland pictures, to some extent bound together thematically. The "Sonata Tragica" is the next important work; it is in "sonata form" but as free within that form as some of Beethoven's. The shadow of impending tragedy hangs over the whole, even the scherzo. The last* movement is a triumphal march interrupted by a tragic close — but without the hopelessness of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique." The "Virtuoso Studies" for piano, are poetic pieces like
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Chopin's Etudes, but unlike them they have titles which indicate their poetic contents. In the group of "Eight Songs" occurs the popular "The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree," and "To the Sea" — to a poem by Howells — a song which Huneker said is the "strong- est song of the sea since Schubert's 'Am Meer,' " and which Henry T. Finck calls "the best of all American songs." The "Indian Suite" has the poetic titles "Legend," "Love Song," "In War Time," "Dirge" and "Village Festival." The romantic traits of the American aborigines are given superb musical ex- pression in these five pieces. The "Sonata Eroica" is a musical delineation of the Arthurian legend, and deserves a place alongside the Tragica. The popu- lar "Woodland Sketches" with the lovely "To a Wild Rose," * the pathetic "Deserted Farm," and the fra- grant "Water Lily" are perhaps the best known of all MacDowelPs works. The "Sea Pieces" are all very short, but are without exception gems of minia- ture tone-painting. When they appeared, the com- poser spoke almost apologetically of the dissonances therein. What would -he have thought of so-called "ultra-modernists"? The third piano sonata, the "Norse," dedicated to Grieg, has for its poetic basis the mood of the Norse sagas. The fourth, the "Kel- tic," also dedicated to Grieg, has this poetic motto:
"Who minds now Keltic tale of yore
Dark druid rimes that thrall,
Deirdre's song and wizard lore
Of great Cuchullin's fall?"
This is generally considered the greatest of the four sonatas, perhaps the most profound and mov- ing utterance of its composer. The last two opus numbers, 61 and 62, contain some of the finest short pieces MacDowell ever wrote. "Fireside Talcs" in- cludes the humorous scherzo "Br'er Rabbit"; among
*This was sketched on a separate piece of paper, crumpled up and thrown aside. Mrs. MacDowell found it, and thought it worth preserving; at first MacDowell said "it is only a wild rose," but eventually it was included in the set.
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the "New England Idyls" are "In Deep Woods," "The Joy of Autumn" and "From a Log Cabin."
The lighter piano pieces and some songs for male voices published under the pseudonym of "Edgar Thorn" are so MacDowellish that it seems strange they were not recognized at first as his. The first of the "Forgotten Fairy Tales" ("sung outside the Prince's door") is a worthy companion of "To a Wild Rose."
MacDowelPs talent for drawing seems to have been neglected in later years; instead, he used the camera to express himself pictorially — aside from his examples of musical delineation. His talent for verse asserted itself in writing texts for some of his songs; as well as a few short independent poems — these have been published in a tiny volume. The manuscript notes for the lecture course on musical history were collected and issued in 1912 in a volume edited by W. J. Baltzell. They are full of illuminating com- ment on various composers. Unfortunately there are serious lacunae, for on some subjects MacDowell felt so absolutely at home that he did not make notes — it is quite possible, too, that some were lost. Wagner, for instance, whose works MacDowell knew in- timately and admired intensely, is mentioned only casually. There is more about Bach, another com- poser very near his heart, though not as much as one who had heard him talk about Bach would expect. He was neither a pedantic classicist nor a radical modern. To judge by his comment on a certain symphonic work with a metaphysical "programme" — "that is philosophy, not music" — he would probably disapprove of the sensational "ultra-modern" school; his ideal was poetic musical beauty and sincerity of purpose. In his own music there shines forth a per- sonality, an individuality — he speaks in his own idiom. That he is not loved by every music lover is not sur- prising; some sincere music lovers do not happen to admire his idiom. There are those whose sincerity is not to be questioned who see nothing in Bach, some who do not love Wagner, others to whom Brahms is
20
unfathomable — Tchaikovsky had small respect for either Bach or Wagner. So there are those who do not care for MacDowelPs music, and who are moved neither by jealousy nor any other unworthy motive. Let it be acknowledged that MacDowell had a great personality, and that personality was expressed in his music, and Lawrence Oilman's summing up of his qualities as a composer will not seem extravagant:
"His music is characterized by great buoyancy and freshness, by an abounding vitality, by a constantly juxtaposed tenderness and strength, by a pervading nobility of tone and feeling. It is charged with emotion, yet it is not brooding or hectic, and it is seldom intricate or recondite in its psychology. .'. . There speaks through it and out of it an individu- ality that is persuasive, lovable, unique."
Peterborough, N. H., August, 1921.
21
LIST OF EDWARD MAcDOWELL'S COMPOSITIONS
Two OLD SONGS. Deserted, Slumber Song. Op. 10. FIRST MODERN SUITE. Op. ii and 12. AN ALBUM OF FIVE SONGS. Op. 13. PRELUDE AND FUGUE. Op. 14. SECOND MODERN SUITE. Op. 15. FIRST PIANO CONCERTO IN A MINOR. Op. 16. SERENATA.
Op. 17. Two FANTASTIC PIECES FOR CONCERT USE. No. i. A Tale
" 2. Witches' Dance Op. 18. Two COMPOSITIONS:
No. i. Barcarolle in F
" 2. Humoresque in A Op. 20. THREE POEMS.
Op. 21. MOON PICTURES AFTER H. C. ANDERSON. Op. 22. HAMLET AND OPHELIA. Op. 23. SECOND PIANO CONCERTO IN D MINOR. Op. 24. FOUR COMPOSITIONS: •
No. i. Humoresque
" 2. March
" 3. Cradle Song
" 4. Czardas
Op. 25. LANCELOT AND ELAINE. Op. 2(5. FROM AN OLD GARDEN. Six SONGS. Op. 27. THREE SONGS.
No. i* In the Starry Sky Above Us
" 2. Springtime
" 3. The Fisherboy Op. 28. Six IDYLS AFTER GOETHE. Op. 29. LAMIA.
Op. 30. THE SARACENS AND LOVELY ALDA. Op. 31. Six POEMS AFTER HEINE. Op. 32. FOUR LITTLE POEMS. No. i. The Eagle
" 2. The Brook
" 3. Moonshine
" 4. Winter
22
Op. 33. THREE SONGS. No. i. Prayer
" 2. Cradle Hymn
" 3. Idyl Op. 34. Two SONGS.
No. i. Menie
" 2. My Jean
Op. 35. ROMANCE. For Violoncello with Orchestra. Op. 36. ETUDE DE CONCERT, in F Sharp. Op. 37. LES ORIENTALES, Three Pieces for Piano. No. i. Clair de lune
" 2. Dans de hamac
" 3. Danse Andalouse Op. 38. MARIONETTES. Eight Little Pieces. Op. 39. TWELVE STUDIES. Op. 40. Six LOVE SONGS. Op. 41. Two SONGS FOR MALE VOICES. No. i. Cradle Song
" 2. Dance of the Gnomes Op. 42. FIRST SUITE FOR FULL ORCHESTRA. Op. 42A. IN OCTOBER. Supplement to First Suite. Op. 43. Two NORTHERN SONGS FOR MIXED CHORUS. No. i. The Brook
" 2. Slumber Song Op. 44. BARCAROLLE FOR MIXED CHORUS. Op. 45. SONATA TRAGICA (No. i). Op. 46. TWELVE VIRTUOSO STUDIES. No. i. Novelette
" 2. Moto Perpetuo
" 3. Wild Chase
" 4. Improvisation
" 5. Elfin Dance
" 6. Valse Triste
" 7. Burlesque 8. Bluette
" 9. Traumerei
" 10. March Wind
" ii. Impromptu
" 12. Polonaise
23
Op. 47. EIGHT SONGS.
No. i. The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree ' 2. Midsummer Lullaby 1 3. Folk Song ' 4. Confidence
" 5. The West Wind Croons in the Trees " 6. In the Woods 1 7. The Sea
" 8. Through the Meadow
Op. 48. SECOND (Indian) SUITE FOR FULL ORCHESTRA. Op. 50. SONATA EROICA (No. -). Op. 51. WOODLAND SKETCHES. Op. 52. THREE CHORUSES FOR MEN'S VOICES. No. i. Hush, Hush! " 2. From the Sea ' 3. The Crusaders
Op. 53. Two CHORUSES FOR MEN'S VOICES. No. i. Bonnie Ann " 2. The Collier Lassie Op. 54. Two CHORUSES FOR MEN'S VOICES.
No. i. A Ballad of Charles the Bold
" 2. Midsummer Clouds Op. 55. SEA PIECES. Op. 56. FOUR SONGS.
No. i. Long Ago Sweetheart Mine 1 2. The Swan Bent Low to the Lily ! 3. A Maid Sings Light ' 4. As the Gloaming Shadows Creep Op. 57. THIRD SONATA (Norse). Op. 58. THREE SONGS. Constancy, Sunrise, Merry
Maiden Spring.
Op. 59. FOURTH SONATA (Keltic). Op. 60. THREE SONGS.
No. i. Tyrant Love " 2. Fair Springtide " 3. To the Golden Rod Op. 61. FIRESIDE TALES. Op. 62. NEW ENGLAND IDYLS.
TECHNICAL EXERCISES: for Piano in 2 vols Two SONGS FROM THE ISTH CENTURY, FOR
MEN'S VOICES. No. i. Winter ( 2. As the Gloaming Shadows.
24
'
MacDowell Composing his " Woodland Sketches"
STEINWAY
THE INSTRUMENT OF THE IMMORTALS
BLESSED are those woodlands of New Hampshire where Edward MacDowell met the wild rose; where his spirit discoursed with the departed Indian; where his soul "overflowed with tenderness and caprice." Blessed, too, is the old Steinway in the log cabin where he lived— for was it not the Voice which uttered first his fine romantic melodies? And is it not fitting that the Instrument of the Immortals should have been his instrument — just as it was Richard Wagner's and Franz Liszt's three'Score years ago — just as it is Paderewski's and Hofmann's and Rachmaninoff's today?
Steinway & Song and their dealers have made it conveniently possible for music lovers to own a Sieinway. Price*: $875 and up, plus freight at points distant from New York.
STEINWAY & SONS, Steinway Hall, 109 E. 14th St., New York
LEO ORNSTEIN'S COMPOSITIONS
PIANO SOLO
A la Chinoise (Impressions of a Chinese
Town) n $1.25
A la Mexicana. Three Pieces in Folk Style . n 1 .00
Arabesques . n 1 .50
Serenade, Op. 5, No. I n ,50
Scherzino, Op. 5, No. II v • • n .50
Sonatina Hebraique ....n 1.50
Moments Musicals:
(A concert version of Schubert's
"Moments Musicals," Op. 51. No. 1).n .50
VIOLIN AND PIANO Two Russian Barcarolles:
Tschaikowsky Barcarolle in G minor, n .75, Rubinstein Barcarolle in F minor. . . .n .75 Russian Festival, Transcription by Arthur
Hartmann n .60
MIXED CHORUS Three Russian Choruses:
No. I Russian Lament [ Russian Winter
' III Russian Festival each n .30
READ THE TRUTH
about Leo Ornstein in F. H. Martens' Book: The Man— His Ideas— His Works. With Pic- tures and other Illustrations . . < $1.00
BREITKOPF & HARTEL, Inc. NEW YORK
HENRY COWELL'S COMPOSITIONS
FOR PIANO
Advertisement Net $ .75
Amiable Conversation ' .40
Antinomy '
Dynamic Motion " I -00
Fabric . . " .60
What's This? . " .40
Six Ings:
No. J. Floating Net $.40 No. 4. Scooting " .60 " 2. Frisking '• .60 "5. Wafting .60
" 3. Fleeting " .60 '6. Seething " .60 Three Irish Legends:
No. 1. The Tides of Manaunaun . .60
' 2. The Hero Sun .... -75
' 3. The Voice of Lir .... .60
Episode " 1.00
Exultation M 1.00
Henry Cowell is a composer with unusually fine talent for composition in the modern idiom. His compositions attest the soundness and sincerity of his theories, on the whole individu- ally expressed and admirably employed. The "Three Irish Myths" are especially interesting and pleasing and the "Ami- able Conversation'* as fine a bit of restrained musical humor as one could desire. — Musical America, May 20, 1922.
Mr. Cowell is a musician of unusually interesting quality. He is a thinker and a theorist on the future of the tonal art as well as a composer of an intriguing talent and marked in- dividuality with something very personal to say for himself. Evidently he employs a particular style of utterance, not for •the sake of style itself, but of. what he desires thereby to ex- press. In an "Irish Myth" entitled "The Tides of Manau- naun," the composer's harmonic originality is coupled with an expressional style that transforms the piano into an orchestra, and not a small orchestra at that!
— The Globe and Commercial Advertiser, May 12, 1922.
BREITKOPF & H ARTEL, Inc. NEW YORK
Composed in America 1921-1922
The Latest Compositions of the Great Norwegian
Composer
CHRISTIAN BINDING
FOR PIANO SOLO Humoresque Net $ .60
One of Sinding's. rcry best works. Character- istic and like the Rustle of Spring, will be in Everybody's Repertoire. Once heard, it cannot be forgotten.
A la Menuetto Net $ .60
A* the title implies, written in the style of a Minuet; a charming melody, making an interesi- ing piece for the player.
Con Fuoco Net $ .60
In 2/4 time. A composition for recital having much brilliancy, excellent octave and chord study.
FOR VOICE AND PIANO ACradleSong Net $ .50
A sweet and simple lullaby which wins the hearts of all with its little refrain: "Sleep, little drowsy one, sleep." (.Medium Voice)
My Ladies Throat Net $ .50
Here is a. beautiful song, — a jewel in the crown of success. (Medium Voice.)
FOR ORGAN Hymnus Net$1.50
One of the most inspiring organ compositions ever written. Every organist will want to play it — it appeals to all.
MAT WE SEND YOU THE ABOVE COMPOSITIONS, ON APnOWl?
BREITROPF & HARTEL, Inc. Music Publishers NEW YORK
Ignaz Friedman's Concert Repertoire
FOR PIANO
little pieces - though Friedman plays them at his recnais, — are not beyond the average pianist — one feels that the Polish Master has expressed the piano miniature with the highest degree of finish and perfection.
These ..
recitals,
Ho. 1. HENSELT-FRIEDMAN Petite Valse (Qp^28Nc.1) Kit $ .50 A thing of gossamer grace, tender, poetic inflections.
" 2. HUMMEL-FRIEDMAN Rondo Favor/ (Op. II) . . " .50 Presented as Hummel for all his genial melodic invention, could never have writ- ten it.
" 3. BRAHMS-FRIEDMAN Valse (pp. 39, No. 15) . . . " .40 The distinct Viennese flavor is emphasized and heightened for the tonal palate.
11 4. MOZART-FRIEDMAN Romance (From Serenade f or Strinfs)". 40
Loveliest of all, melodically speaking, is the
little piano poem Friedman has created in
the Romance. " 5. HANOEl-f RIEDMAN 'Cigue •• .50
A spirited and glowing Vivace. " 6. FRIEDMAN g;/e Danse (She Dances) " .60
A charming little original waltz, a bonne
bouche of refined and effective pianism,
dedicated to Anna Pavlowa.
The publishers take great pleasure in presenting IGNAZ FRIEDMAN'S CONCERT REPERTOIRE (new works to be added continuously) to the PUBLIC as it represents an AUTHORITATIVE and CORRECT REVISION of favorite ^works ox GREAT MASTERS.
IGNAZ FRIEDMAN'S CONCERT REPERTOIRE will prove INDISPENSABLE to every MUSICIAN, TEACHER and STUDENT.
BREITKOPF & HARTEL, Inc. NEW YORK
Anna Pavlowa
"ELLE DANSE"
(She Dances)
This Season's Success
FASCINATING BRILLIANT
MELODIOUS
One of the Best
CONCERT WALTZES
Ever Written for the Piano By
IGNAZ FRIEDMAN FAMOUS PIANIST— COMPOSER
Price 60 cents
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