CHAPTER VII.
MACDOWELL.
EDWARD ALEXANDER MACDOWELL.
By general consent of music lovers and connoisseurs, Mr. Edward Alexander MacDowell, or Prof. MacDowell as he should now be called, is the most finished and accomplished writer for the pianoforte that we have. Mr. MacDowell was born in New York on the 18th of December, 1861, and after having some instruction from his mother, who was a good musician, he received lessons for a while from Teresa Carreno. In 1877 he went to Paris and became a pupil of Marmontel and Savard. Later on he went to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he studied composition with the late Joachim Raff and piano playing with Carl Heymann. In this manner five years of European student-life passed, and in 1888 he was made piano teacher at the Darmstadt Conservatory; he remained there only one year, in 1882 going to Weisbaden, where his position was a very distinguished one. In 1888 he returned to America and located in Boston, where he immediately succeeded to an extremely fine clientele. In Boston Mr. MacDowell naturally found very congenial surroundings. He lived on West Cedar Street, a few doors from Arthur Foote, well down on the slopes of Beacon Hill, a short distance from the Common and not very far from Charles Street. The aristocratic desirability of this particular location in Boston is measured by its remoteness from street cars and all means of public transit. This, however, is a mere detail. In 1896 Mr. MacDowell was appointed professor of music at Columbia University, after negotiations extending over several months.
It is impossible to read over the list of Mr. MacDowell's published works without realizing at once that here we have a composer of no small fertility of idea and great seriousness and ambition of purpose. The list from which I take the following particulars is, no doubt, incomplete, since it reaches only to opus 50, which work was published in 1895. But the list contains four symphonic poems for orchestra, the First Suite, scored for orchestra, and the Second, or "Indian" Suite,—in all, six large works for orchestra. There are two concertos for pianoforte and orchestra, both of which have been played very successfully, the first one many times over by Mme. Carreno and by Mr. MacDowell himself. There is a romance for 'cello and orchestra; two numbers of four-hand pieces, originally so composed; twelve books of songs; and quite a long list of pieces for the pianoforte.
To take the more important of the latter, there are, first, twelve studies, opus 39, which are of various lengths, from two to six pages each; in part fancy pieces for the piano, and in part intended to serve as exercises in different styles of playing. Then there are twelve virtuoso studies, opus 46, much more difficult than the preceding and very interesting and marked in their characteristics. There are six Idylles, opus 28, and quite a number of other small pieces for piano, of no great ambition, but all poetic and seriously done. The most popular of the purely pianoforte pieces, perhaps, is the "Witches' Dance," which has the advantage of being a most excellent finger study. The only drawback to this piece is the rather commonplace character of the melody which serves as middle piece. This, however, is somewhat concealed by the cleverness of the treatment.
Of all the piano works, the three upon which Mr. MacDowell's reputation in the higher musical circles will rest are his First Suite and his two sonatas, the one called "Tragic," the other "Heroic." The First Suite dates from the time when he was with Raff at Frankfort, and it was published in Germany by Breitkopf and Hartel. It is perhaps modeled somewhat on a suite by Raff. The first movement, praeludium, is quite in the old style at first. Presently, a flowing melody in the bass begins against a pianissimo, arpeggiated accompaniment in the right hand, with a very charming and thoroughly pianistic effect, and the praeludium is carried through on this motive. The second movement, presto, is practically a scherzo with a strong flavor of fugue at the beginning. It is very fully developed, extending to eight pages. Then follows the slow movement, andantino and allegretto, bearing a motto, "Per arnica silentia lunae" (Virgil); and "by the friendly silence of the moon" the sweet cantilena goes on, now for soprano, now for tenor. The middle piece is of a more dramatic character perhaps. This is followed by an intermezzo, like a quick minuet, which is very successful; and this in turn by a rhapsody, which bears a motto from Dante's "Inferno," "Those who enter here leave hope behind"—surely not a very inviting suggestion to the student who takes it for the first time. Fortunately the period when hope forsakes the reader is short, being really of only one page, after which a sort of mitigated grief ensues, and in another page this movement ends. Then follows the finale—a fugue in E major, well made and effective but by no means easy to play. At the end of the fugue there is a coda of a stormy character.
This suite, as a whole, is a very brilliant piano piece, and also difficult to play; but it is musical and well done and therefore worth playing.
The latest of his large works in a serious form is the second sonata, called the "Eroïca." This is designated by the composer as a "flower from the realm of King Arthur," and it is dedicated to Dr. William Mason. Beginning very seriously and slowly, it almost immediately rises to intense vigor, which, after a while, gives place to a second subject—a song-melody in the folk-tone; and out of these two ingredients—or three, more properly (the motive of the first page, the second page, and the song-form already noticed)—the movement is carried to completion. It is very difficult to play, but when well done is effective and serious. The second movement is a very playful scherzo, which is designated as elf-like—as light and swift as possible. The third movement is designated "tenderly, longingly, yet with passion"; the hero is now in love, very much so; his being is stirred to its utmost core; his rhythm is shaken up so that two's and three's intermingle in the most inviting confusion; and his harmonic foundations are also subjected to fast and loose experiences very trying to the outsider who would represent all this inner commotion. Nevertheless the movement, when well done, is very lovely. The finale is designated "fiercely and very fast"—a very strong and tumultuous movement.
Throughout his career as a composer Mr. MacDowell has placed great importance upon the advantage a composer gains from a poetic standpoint or conception. He has often maintained that one could write better music if inspired by poetry than when he merely gives rein to his musical fancy, as such; and that, in fact, the only salvation for the modern composer, and his only protection from falling into mere rhapsody, is in having a poetic story in mind to which the music should conform. Accordingly, in all these large works of Mr. MacDowell's, especially in the two sonatas, and perhaps even more so in the second than in the first, the transitions of mood in the music are very noticeable indeed, and the work needs to be played with a great deal of taste as well as mastership in order to prevent it from having a certain fragmentary effect. This, in the production of a composer so masterly in musical treatment as Mr. MacDowell, is rather curious, and I have never been able fully to account for it. The disposition to lean on poetic suggestion is very evident in the books of studies already mentioned. For instance, in the opus 46 there are such titles as "Wild Chase," "Elfin Dance," "March Wind"; and in the former book the "Dance of the Gnomes," "The Shadow Dance," "In the Forest"; in the opus 37, "By the Light of the Moon," "In the Hammock," "Dance Andalusian "; in the opus 32,—entitled "Four Little Poems,"—"The Eagle," "The Brook," "Moonshine," "Winter"; then, again, in the latest of Mr. MacDowell's works which I have seen—the "Woodland Sketches," opus 51—there are ten little pieces, with such titles as "To a Wild Rose," "Will o' the Wisp," "At an old Trysting Place," "In Autumn," "From an Indian Lodge," "To a Water Lily," "From 'Uncle Remus,'" "A Deserted Farm," "By a Meadow Brook," "Told at Sunset." These titles may or may not have been in the mind of the composer at the moment of producing the work. It is quite possible that a significant musical idea, upon being developed, suggested the name, and that the fanciful name was taken for the sake of the student. These "Woodland Sketches" in particular are very simple pieces indeed, rarely presenting difficulties beyond the fourth grade, and all of them musical.
Mr. MacDowell has also shared the opinion of many writers that something new is to be reached by the modern composer from the suggestion of characteristic folk-songs, and in his "Indian" Suite he has made use of themes derived from the North American Indians or suggested by some of their melodies. The "Indian" Suite is undoubtedly a very beautiful and poetic work for orchestra. I can not say that I find it better by reason of its barbarous themes, but the treatment of those themes has in it nothing that is barbarous, but, on the contrary, everything that is highly finished and polished, with a keen sense of the comely and well sounding.
On the whole, therefore, considering the mastery with which he has worked out his different pieces, and the characteristic and modern manner in which his poetical suggestions are realized upon the piano, we are obliged to take Mr. MacDowell very seriously, and to rank him among the first of writers at the present time. As he is still a young man, and has accepted the professorship of music at Columbia primarily for the purpose of having more leisure for composition, other and greater works ought to follow from his pen. I have been informed that he has in hand, or already finished, a symphony for full orchestra, and no doubt his portfolio contains a multitude of other pieces which as yet he is not ready to give to the world. Many of the songs which he has published are upon his own verses, and some of them are very beautiful. In fact, you will rarely find eight songs together so pleasing and well worth knowing in every way as the "Eight Songs" by Mr. MacDowell, opus 47.
At the same time, there is a certain amount of make-believe in these fantastic titles for piano pieces, which, after all, can be nothing else than more or less legitimate developments of certain musical motives, as such; and can be satisfactory only in proportion as the ideas are legitimately unfolded and adequately treated, and contrasted with other material. Even the marks of expression are arbitrary, a very amusing illustration of which I am able to give from my own experience. It happened some months ago that an out-of-town pupil, connected with a musical club, brought me a program of MacDowell's works which she had to play at one of the club meetings, and in the list was the difficult chord study entitled "March Wind." This was marked pianissimo. It is rather a difficult thing to bring down to smoothness, and I spent a great deal of time in getting it played softly, in order to represent the distance of the wind and the rise and fall of the intensity. A few days later Mr. MacDowell played a recital in Chicago, and among the other selections was this same "March Wind," which he played fortissimo throughout. When I saw him the next day I began, in that irreverent manner which critics and composers have with one another (for Mr. MacDowell was not yet a professor): "You're a fine fellow! To mark your own 'March Wind' pianissimo and then play it fortissimo. What's the good of my working two hours with a pupil to get it down fine when you upset everything by playing it in this tumultuous way?" To which Mr. MacDowell answered: "Did I mark that pianissimo? When I got ready to play it I could n't remember whether it was pianissimo or fortissimo, and I said, 'March Wind,' 'March Wind,' that must be very loud and roaring; and so I played it fortissimo."
But however this may be, it can be said of Mr. MacDowell that he has illustrated his talents as a composer in a wide variety of styles, and always in a delicate and finished manner. He is, therefore, a composer to be treated seriously, and to be looked up to as a master, with an expectation of even more beautiful and satisfactory works still to follow.
I. First Suite. Opus 10.
Praeludium.
Presto.
Andantino and Allegretto.
Intermezzo.
Rhapsodie.
Fugue.
2. Woodland Sketches.
"To a Wild Rose."
"Will o' the Wisp."
"At an Old Trysting Place."
"In Autumn."
"From an Indian Lodge."
"To a Water Lily."
"From 'Uncle Remus'."
"A Deserted Farm."
"By a Meadow Brook."
"Told at Sunset."
3. Two Songs from Opus 33.
"Cradle Hymn."
"Idyll."
4. Selections from Opus 39.
"Romance."
"Arabeske."
"In the Forest."
"Idylle."
"Shadow Dance."
"Witches' Dance." Opus 17, No. 2.
5. Eight Songs. Opus 47.
"The Robin Sings in the Apple-tree."
"Midsummer Lullaby."
"Folk-song."
"Confidence."
"The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees."
"In the Woods."
"The Sea."
"Through the Meadow."
6. Sonata, "Eroïca." Opus 30.