MacDowell was not long in returning to the domain of symphonic music, the First Symphonic Poem, Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22, and the Second Pianoforte Concerto, Op. 23, having been composed only about two or three years previously and separated from it in order of opus number merely by a group of unimportant piano pieces comprising Op. 24. Lancelot and Elaine has its poetical basis in the legends of King Arthur's days, which MacDowell loved to read about and idealize. The work as a whole follows Tennyson's poem and is essentially programme music. It is impressively scored, rich and sonorous in harmonic treatment and full of strikingly vivid and expressive poetical feeling. The brilliance of the tournament; the loveliness of Elaine; the nobleness of Lancelot; the scene of the maiden's funeral barge floating down the river, and the knight's ensuing grief—all are graphically illustrated in MacDowell's tone poem. The work embraces moods and colours from brilliant exhilaration to sombreness and poignant emotion. The climaxes are stirring and coherent, and in many places the music really attains to a considerable amount of dramatic power, contrasted by passages of infinitely expressive tenderness. The whole thing was evidently composed in a state of fervent inspiration and the feeling of Teutonic influence, which was still over MacDowell at that time, is forgotten in the power and beauty of his tone poetry, already becoming individual and distinct from that of other composers.
OPUS 26. FROM AN OLD GARDEN, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1887. First Published, 1887 (G. Schirmer).
1. The Pansy.
2. The Myrtle.
3. The Clover.
4. The Yellow Daisy.
5. The Bluebell.
6. The Mignonette.
These songs are purely lyrical and are quite delightful examples of MacDowell's work in this form, which he was to afterwards uphold as a beautiful medium for song writing. They are not quite of his very best output, but make charming solo numbers and are free from vocal emotionalism. Many flower songs of other composers are harnessed to highly emotional subjects and tend to become love-songs, MacDowell's songs are a welcome relief in their purely lyrical outlook. It will be noticed that the titles of the songs in this group are all of the simple type of flowers such as he loved, the gaudy, heavy and carefully cultivated blossoms being conspicuous by their absence. It will serve no purpose here to suggest which of the songs is the best, for each has its own particular charm and it is more a matter of taste and fancy than judgment as to which are the favourites.