Edward MacDowell: A Great American Tone Poet, His Life and Music

by John Fielder Porte

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 & Härtel).

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.