OPUS 20. THREE POEMS, FOR PIANOFORTE DUET.
Composed, Winter, 1884-5. First Published, 1886 (J. Hainauer).
1. Nights at Sea.
2. Tale of the Knights.
3. Ballade.
Like the Forest Idyls, Op. 19, these pieces have a definite poetic basis, but are conceived in a manner that only slightly suggests the individuality of the composer. They are quite musical and well written for a pianoforte duet, but lack the sustained interest one expects to find in MacDowell's work.
OPUS 21. MOON PICTURES AFTER HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, FOR PIANOFORTE DUET.
Composed, Winter, 1884-5. First Published, 1886 (J. Hainauer).
1. The Hindoo Maiden.
2. Stork's Story.
3. In Tyrol.
4. The Swan.
5. Visit of the Bear.
The titles of these pieces are quite characteristic of MacDowell, and are early indications of his love of the imaginative and fanciful atmosphere of fairy tales. The pieces were originally intended to form a suite for orchestra, but the opportunity arose to have them printed as pianoforte duets and the composer was not in a financial position to refuse the offer. Unfortunately he destroyed the orchestral sketches. The Moon Pictures are as a whole charming and imaginative in conception, and represent the fancies of the immortal Hans Andersen, although they are far from being truly representative of MacDowell as we now know him.
OPUS 22. FIRST SYMPHONIC POEM, HAMLET AND OPHELIA, FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.
Composed, Frankfort, Winter, 1884-5. First Published, 1885 (J. Hainauer).
Dedicated to Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.
With the appearance of Hamlet and Ophelia MacDowell found his reputation considerably increasing. The work was performed in a number of German towns soon after its first appearance, and within a year following its publication the Ophelia section was performed in the composer's native city, New York. In the year following this latter event, the Hamlet section was played in the same city. The first complete performance at Boston, Mass., was on January 28th, 1893, the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing with Nikisch as conductor. Hamlet and Ophelia really consists of two separate poems for orchestra, and was first published in that form, but MacDowell himself afterwards authorised its alteration into one work, and he named it First Symphonic Poem. The piece is not an altogether unworthy product of his genius. It bears unmistakable evidence of Teutonic influence, but there is a certain originality of thought and a freshness of spirit about it that make for serious work. It was by far the most important of MacDowell's music up to this period, for in addition to a skill and brilliance of harmonic and orchestral colouring, it has a depth of feeling and fuller exposition of personality than its predecessors. It has a sense of romance, a beauty of melodic outline and an attempted justification of title that are, at least, sincerely effected, and although it is far from being one of its author's representative works, it must be remembered that he was but twenty-four years of age at its completion. As a youthful achievement it is very fine, the creation of a gifted, though immature, tone poet, and full of a promise that the future was to amply fulfil. The title and dedication of the work are interesting, and both indicate its link with the English dramatic world. The performance of the English Shakespearian actors, Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, inspired MacDowell whilst in London in 1884, on his honeymoon trip with Mrs. MacDowell.
OPUS 23. SECOND CONCERTO, IN D MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE AND ORCHESTRA.
Probably Commenced Early in 1885 at Frankfort. Completed at Wiesbaden the same year.
First Performance in New York City, March 5th 1889, at Chickering Hall, by the Composer and Orchestra Conducted by Theodore Thomas.
First Published, 1890 (Breitkopf & Härtel).
Dedicated to Teresa Carreño.
1. Larghetto calmato—Poco piu mosso.
2. Presto giocoso.
3. Largo—molto Allegro, etc.
This is the most frequently played of MacDowell's two concertos for pianoforte. It is much the finer of the two, being constructed with greater skill and artistic confidence than the First Concerto, Op. 15, and of all the works of MacDowell's early period it is the most enduring. Like its predecessor, it is one of the composer's few compositions that have no definitely indicated poetic content. As a whole it is a work full of feeling, brilliantly cohesive and logical, with good material that is handled with confident skill, but it is not to be compared with even the small works of the composer's mature period, which commences with his Opus 47. Its character, however, is altogether strong and virile, containing many passages of pure tonal beauty and eloquent expressiveness. The orchestra is written for with skill and imagination and is on equal terms with the solo instrument. The only fault of the work is that its pianoforte part is far too continuously brilliant.
The concerto was enthusiastically received on MacDowell's first performances of it in New York in March, 1889, and in Boston a month later. On July 12th of the same year he played it in Paris. His playing of it at a concert of the New York Philharmonic Society on December 14th, 1894, was a memorable one and created a furore, and he not only had to bow several times after each movement, but at the end was given a storm of cheering and recalled again and again to receive the acknowledgments of the Philharmonic audience, which could be very critical when occasion demanded. On May 14th, 1903, MacDowell visited London and played the concerto at a concert given by the venerable Royal Philharmonic Society held at Queen's Hall. The work had been first played in London (Crystal Palace) three years previously, by Carreño.
OPUS 24. FOUR PIECES, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Wiesbaden, Early Summer, 1887.
First Published, 1887 (J. Hainauer. British Empire—Winthrop Rogers, Ltd.).
1. Humoresque.
2. March.
3. Cradle Song.
4. Czardas (Friska).
The interval of time between the preceding work and these pieces is explained by the fact that MacDowell and his wife had been travelling, and the latter had passed through a dangerous illness at Wiesbaden. The Four Pieces for Pianoforte (__ 24) were among the first productions of the composer after his return to Wiesbaden, and date from that delightful period when he lived with his wife in a cottage in the woods, some way from the town. The pieces under notice are tuneful and well written, but quite devoid of the individuality that distinguishes the composer's later works. The brilliant Czardas was revised by MacDowell in his later period.
OPUS 25. SECOND SYMPHONIC POEM, LANCELOT AND ELAINE, FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1887-8. First American Performance at Boston, Mass., January 10th, 1890, at a Symphony Concert Conducted by Nikisch. First Published, 1888 (J. Hainauer).
Dedicated to Templeton Strong.
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.
OPUS 27. THREE PART-SONGS, FOR MALE CHORUS.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1887. First Published, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. In the Starry Sky Above Us.
2. Springtime.
3. The Fisher-boy.
These are spirited and well written part-songs. They contain expressive matter and make good and contrasting numbers for male-voice choirs. The fact that they savour of the influence of the German romantic school does not detract from their general merit, although they are not truly MacDowell-like.
OPUS 28. SIX LITTLE PIECES, IDYLS (AFTER GOETHE), FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1887. First Published, 1887 (J. Hainauer. Revised Edition—Arthur P. Schmidt. British Empire—Winthrop Rogers, Ltd.).
1. In the Woods.
2. Siesta.
3. To the Moonlight.
4. Silver Clouds.
5. Flute Idyl.
6. The Bluebell.
These pieces were suggested to the composer by lines by the German poet, Goethe. The music attempts to suggest the various scenes indicated by the verses quoted at the head of each piece. It is an advance on the preceding small pieces for pianoforte, and foreshadows the later MacDowell of inimitable poetic suggestion in music. The whole set was later revised by the composer in his mature period, and in this form they are acceptable, but even now not satisfying to those who are acquainted with his greater work.
OPUS 29. THIRD SYMPHONIC POEM, LAMIA (AFTER KEATS), FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.
Commenced, Wiesbaden, 1888. Completed, Boston, Winter, 1888-9. First Published, 1908 (Posthumously) (Arthur P. Schmidt). Dedicated to Henry T. Finck.
MacDowell refrained from publishing this work because he had been unable to try it over in America with an orchestra, as he had been able to do in Germany with his earlier symphonic works, and he was not altogether certain of its effect. He, however, published his two later suites for orchestra, Ops. 42 and 48, with confidence.
The chief demerit of Lamia is that it is obviously influenced by the music of Wagner, and has but little of MacDowell's customary individual expression. Apart from this defect, however, it is undoubtedly effective, strongly and well written, and interestingly scored. MacDowell himself considered it at least the equal of his two earlier symphonic poems, Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22, and Lancelot and Elaine, Op. 25, and intended revising it. The work was published after his death by friends who were anxious to provide against any future doubt as to its authenticity. The composer dedicated it to Henry T. Finck, the distinguished American musical critic, who was one of the first to recognise the significance of MacDowell's music.
Lamia has its poetic basis in the romantic, legendary poem by John Keats. An introductory note by the composer in the full score briefly outlines the meaning of the music:—
Lamia, an enchantress in the form of a serpent, loves Lycius, a young Corinthian. In order to win him she prays to Hermes, who answers her appeal by transforming her into a lovely maiden. Lycius meets her in the wood, is smitten with love for her and goes with her to her enchanted palace, where the wedding is celebrated with great splendour. But suddenly Apollonius the magician appears; he reveals the magic. Lamia again assumes the form of a serpent, the enchanted palace vanishes, and Lycius is found lifeless.
The music commences with a sinister theme, Lento misterioso, con tristezza, given out by bassoon and celli, accompanied by a soft drum roll. This motive is the main one of the work, and may be regarded as that of Lamia. After some impassioned development, the music leads quietly into an Allegro con fuoco. This opens with a strong tune, having a distinctly Teutonic flavour. It is announced by the horns con sordini, accompanied very softly by held notes in the strings, except viola, pizzicato in the celli, and tympani. From now onwards the music is graphic, and contains some passages of unmistakable dramatic power. The presence of the sinister opening theme is frequently felt. Near the end the whole sinks away, a plaintive little clarinet solo, Lento, indicating the death of Lycius. This is followed by a short and vigorous conclusion.
OPUS 30. TWO FRAGMENTS, THE SARACENS AND THE LOVELY ALDA, FOR ORCHESTRA.
Composed, Wiesbaden, about 1887-8. First Performed, November, 1891, at Boston, U.S.A., by Listemann and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. First Published, 1891 (Breitkopf & Härtel).
These two orchestral pieces have their poetic basis in The Song of Roland, and were at first intended by the composer to form movements, or at least important parts, of a symphony on the same subject. The description, Fragments, under which MacDowell published them, after his plan for a symphony had been abandoned, is a very modest one for two such fine pieces of orchestral tone poetry. The Saracens is a piece of great power, dramatic and wild in spirit and vivid in harmonic and instrumental colouring. It represents the scene in which the traitor, Ganelon, determines on the deed that results in the death of Roland. The whole passage is vividly suggested by the music.
The Lovely Alda is a very beautiful and human piece. Aldâ was Roland's bethrothed and the music aims at suggesting her loveliness and her mourning for her lover. There are passages of intensely impressive melancholy in the Fragment and its human feeling is typical of MacDowell. Altogether the two pieces are music on a high plane and worth attention for their own intrinsic value, quite apart from their connection with the symphony that never materialised. They bear a stamp of seriousness of effort and a conscious responsibility that only the really great composer is able to indicate.
OPUS 31. SIX POEMS AFTER HEINE, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1887. First Published, 1887 (J. Hainauer. Revised Edition—Arthur P. Schmidt. British Empire—Winthrop Rogers, Ltd.).
1. We Sat by the Fisherman's Cottage.
2. Far Away, on the Rock-coast of Scotland. (Scotch poem.)
3. My Child, We Were Once Children.
4. We Travelled Alone in the Gloomy Post-chaise.
5. Shepherd Boy's a King.
6. Death Nothing is but Cooling Night. (Poeme érotique.)
Certain of these pieces, in the edition revised by the composer, are rather good, and are full of suggestive effort. They have, too, a touch of the composer's individuality about them, although not of his greater kind. The pianoforte writing is well done and effective, but lacks the sweep of line and power of the later works. As a whole, however, the Six Poems after Heine are quite creditable and self contained pieces, each number bearing some Heine verses indicating its poetic basis.
The first piece is contemplative and contains some distinctly
MacDowell-like harmonic touches.
The second graphically depicts the raging sea of the rocky coast of Scotland, a grey old castle and a beautiful, but ailing, woman harpist, whose gloomy song goes out into the storm. The music is powerful and picturesque in the storm passages, while the sad Scottish song of the woman adds vivid local colour to the whole.
The third number is rather poor and devoid of any real interest.
The journey in the post-chaise is told fairly graphically in the fourth piece. The music is not very interesting, although its hurried progress suggests the monotony of travel in a rumbling vehicle on a night journey.
The fifth piece is lovely and tender, but not particularly expressive. The last of the set opens with a noble, half-sad melody that is typical of MacDowell. Its agitated middle section provides a good contrast.
Two of the poems were played in orchestral garb for the first time in England at a London Queen's Hall Promenade Concert on October 3rd, 1916. They were No. 6, Poeme érotique, and No. 2, Scotch Poem.
OPUS 32. FOUR LITTLE POEMS, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Wiesbaden, about 1888. Revised by the Composer, 1906. Copyrighted 1894 and 1906 (Breitkopf & Härtel).
1. The Eagle.
2. The Brook.
3. Moonshine.
4. Winter.
These pieces are, in their revised version, more individual and more worth playing than any of the preceding small pianoforte works by MacDowell. They have his true ring and stamp, although even here not in its most highly-developed form, and they exemplify his already unerring power to create atmospheres of far-reaching significance, even in tiny spaces, for all four poems are but two-page pieces, and the most striking, The Eagle, is but twenty-six bars in length.
1. The Eagle is a tone picture of Tennyson's lines:—
_He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls._
The opening high, wind-swept chords; the succeeding softly-breathed, high chromatics, with the deep-voiced bass, creating an atmosphere of the vast loneliness of wild mountain heights; the gradual descent to spell-binding silence and then the startling shriek and swoop down of the eagle—all these are suggested in this tiny piece with unmistakable power. The Eagle is remarkable for its programme music aspect in the light of MacDowell's later works, for in these it is perfected suggestion and not realism that we find.
2. The Brook is a clever little piece, delicate and refined. It begins with lovable simplicity, which is broken for a time by an expressive and characteristic passage marked sotto voce. The piece as a whole has for its motto Bulwer's lines:—
Gay below the cowslip bank, see the billow dances; There I lay, beguiling time—when I liv'd romances; Dropping pebbles in the wave, fancies into fancies.
3. Moonshine opens softly with a broad and dignified melody. The expression soon becomes tender, but is interspersed with jocular little passages. MacDowell illustrates in his characteristic manner a lonely tramp at night, with the grotesque streaks of the moonlight breaking quaintly into the pedestrian's contemplative mood. The music is curiously lonely and suggestive of a quiet moonlight night in the country. Particularly lovable are the soft, characteristic chord progressions, followed by lonely silence, on the second page, just before the opening melody returns. The piece ends with the moon kissing the traveller good-night.
4. Winter is a piece of deep feeling, quite haunting in its expression of lonely grief. Its motto is taken from some lines by Shelley:—
_A widow bird sate mourning for her love
Upon a wintry bough;
The frozen wind crept on above,
The freezing stream below.
There was no leaf upon the forest bare,
No flower upon the ground,
And little motion in the air
Except the mill-wheel's round._
The music is of the kind that remains in the memory for a long time and is of a quality as moving in its sadness as anything MacDowell ever composed. Its suggested scene seems to be the bleak and icy winter of North America.
OPUS 33. THREE SONGS, FOR TENOR OR SOPRANO AND PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1888. First Published, 1894 (J. Hainauer. Revised Edition of Nos. 2 & 3—Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. Prayer.
2. Cradle Hymn.
3. Idyl.
These songs are rather beautiful, and sincerely, although not grandly, inspired. They are probably the least known in America and England of MacDowell's songs, but they do not lack a fine, spiritual outlook.
OPUS 34. TWO SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.
Composed, 1888. First Published, 1889 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. Menie.
2. My Jean.
These two songs are full of freshness and charm of expression. Menie is a beautiful song; My Jean is, however, the more important of the two, it is inspired and characteristically human in spirit. Neither of these songs, however, can be compared for spontaneous beauty and expression with MacDowell's later groups.
OPUS 35. ROMANCE, FOR VIOLONCELLO AND ORCHESTRA.
Composed, Wiesbaden, 1888. First Published, 1888 (J. Hainauer).
Dedicated to David Popper.
This is an outwardly charming and melodious work, but strangely alien to MacDowell's general high tone. The usual significant poetic matter is absent, but unlike the pianoforte concertos (Ops. 15 and 23), which are also abstract works, the piece is altogether inferior in artistic value, even if we look upon it as an early attempt, for preceding pieces are, at least, more sincere. The two following numbers, 36 (Etude de Concert for Pianoforte) and 37 (Les Orientales for Pianoforte), and this Romance for Violoncello and Orchestra present a sequence of creative work unworthy of MacDowell, a falling off common to most composers of standing at some time or other. The technical side of the work is fair, the tone quality of the violoncello having been evidently considered. The piece is dedicated to Popper, whose name is familiar to all 'cello players.
OPUS 36. ETUDE DE CONCERT, IN F SHARP, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Boston, U.S.A., 1889. First Published, 1889 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
"Don't put that dreadful thing on your programme," was the burden of a telegram MacDowell once despatched to Teresa Carreño when he heard she was to play the Etude de Concert in F sharp, so we know that the composer himself came, later on, to recognise the inferior quality of this work. It is good enough for the salon composer and the show pianist, but as coming from MacDowell's pen it made a poor start as practically the first thing he composed on his return to his native country in 1888, especially as he had been preceded there by his good European reputation. The brilliant pianistic effect of the piece, however, is undeniable.
OPUS 37. LES ORIENTALES, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, Boston, 1889. First Published, 1889 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. Clair de Lune.
2. Dans le Hamac.
3. Danse Andalouse.
The first work produced by MacDowell in Boston, Etude de Concert, Op. 36, was followed by music of equally poor quality, in the composer's opinion. The pieces under notice are after Hugo's Les Orientales, and although tolerably suggestive of their titles, are of such poor inspiration that they have little or no musical value outside the salon type of compositions that the composer himself abhorred. Even the pretty Clair de Lune is shallow stuff, although it has attained some popularity as a melodious solo, both in its original version and in its arrangement for violin and pianoforte.
OPUS 38. EIGHT (formerly Six) LITTLE PIECES, MARIONETTES, FOR
PIANOFORTE.
Composed about 1888. Revised and rearranged by the Composer, 1901. First Published, 1888 (J. Hainauer. Revised Version, 1901—Arthur P. Schmidt).
Dedicated to Miss Nina Nevins.
ORIGINAL VERSION: REVISED VERSION:
1. Soubrette. 1. Prologue.
2. Lover. 2. Soubrette.
3. Villain. 3. Lover.
4. Lady-Love. 4. Witch.
5. Clown. 5. Clown.
6. Witch. 6. Villain.
7. Sweetheart.
8. Epilogue.
These little pieces are quite notable and extremely interesting both in their original and revised versions. Although the subjects they portray are the stiff-moving and grotesque figures of Marionettes, their general effect is often intensely human. The set as a whole may be viewed as a half serious, half whimsical study of characters in human life, issued under the disguise of jointed and painted dummies. Beneath the quaint, stiff movement of the music there is just that touch of seriousness, a sort of droll sadness, that makes of it something more than a doll's play. The revised edition of Marionettes is the best and most characteristic, and in the United States is the accepted one. In England, however, the original edition, published at Breslau in 1888 by Julius Hainauer, is still being sold.
Soubrette is a stiff, but bright little piece. In places it has a wistfulness that seems to suggest that the human counterpart of the character has feelings, not being merely an emotionless puppet for public amusement.
Lover has much the same stiff movement as the preceding piece, but is more tender and subdued, dying softly away in the final bars. There is much human feeling in this number.
Villain is a realistic Marionette piece, with a quaint, foreboding and sardonic spirit, the little climax being quite villainous.
Lady-love brings a gentle and charming study to view, the typical quaint movement of the pieces as a whole being here considerably softened and made more flowing and graceful.
Clown makes a jolly number, but beneath its outward dummy-like comicalness there runs a strain of human feeling that towards the end comes uppermost, the music becoming quite subdued, growing fainter and fainter until nothing is left but a few little final jerks.
Witch has a grotesque and mechanical jauntiness. There are some powerful and sinister passages in it, the final gesture, with its sudden tonic minor chord, capping the realism of the piece.
In the revised version of Marionettes the character drawing is more skilful, and we incidentally notice the illuminating and characteristic English used in the works of MacDowell's mature period instead of the conventional Italian musical terms. The little comedy-drama is opened by a Prologue, in which jovial, wistful and sardonic motives variously indicate the types of characters in the play, and is rounded off by an Epilogue, which is one of the most beautiful of MacDowell's smaller pieces, being full of tender feeling, and indicating unmistakably the deeper and human significance of the composer's Marionette studies. The whole album comprises one of MacDowell's most interesting portrayals of everyday human nature, standing quite alone in its droll half-amusing, half-pathetic mode of expression. It is something quite apart from the more specialised romantic and heroic figures of the three symphonic poems, Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22, Lancelot and Elaine, Op. 25, and Lamia, Op. 29; the three last pianoforte sonatas, Eroica, Op. 50, Norse, Op. 57, and Keltic, Op. 59; or of the noble "Indian" Suite, Op. 48.
OPUS 39. TWELVE ETUDES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNIQUE AND STYLE, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, about 1889-90. First Published, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
BOOK I:
1. Hunting Song.
2. Alla Tarantella.
3. Romance.
4. Arabeske.
5. In the Forest.
6. Dance of the Gnomes.
BOOK II:
1. Idyl.
2. Shadow Dance.
3. Intermezzo.
4. Melody.
5. Scherzino.
6. Hungarian.
These pieces have as their chief object the development of pianoforte technique, but are quite interesting as poetical music. In his technical instruction, whether through musical examples or verbally, MacDowell inspired his subject with the idealism and vivid thought of the true poet. The poetry of these studies is not of the composer's finest inspiration, but it is of a quality sufficient to prevent their being viewed solely as technical exercises. Generally, they do not require advanced executive ability to play.
Hunting Song (Allegretto) is a study for accent and grace, but not particularly interesting as music.
Alla Tarantella (Prestissimo) is a fairly effective study for speed and lightness of touch. It is not very difficult to play, having convenient three-note phrases.
Romance (Andantino) is fairly tuneful, but not particularly interesting. It is a study for the development of the singing touch.
Arabeske (Allegro scherzando) is a sparkling wrist study.
In the Forest (Allegretto con moto) is suggestive enough, but not in MacDowell's finest style. It does not compare favourably with the forest pieces in his delightful _Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, or with the deeply inspired and mature New England Idyls, Op. 62. Its technical object is the development of delicate rhythmical playing.
Dance of the Gnomes (Prestissimo confuoco), the last study of Book I, is another piece of imperfectly realised suggestive tone poetry. It is difficult to play, requiring great crispness of finger action combined with perfect control of tone volume.
Idyl (Allegretto) is No. I of Book II, and has a certain charm and lyrical beauty, although not one of the composer's best efforts. It is a study for the cultivation of delicacy, singing tone and grace.
Shadow Dance (Allegrissimo) has just that touch of fanciful romanticism that MacDowell knew how to infuse into a piece, thus heightening its interest. The piece is one of the most popular of MacDowell's shorter pieces and makes a fine solo. From a technical point of view, it is a valuable study for development of finger agility combined with lightness of touch.
Intermezzo (Allegretto) is tuneful and pleasing, but does not reach a very high level of poetic writing. It is, however, a useful exercise for development of independent action of the two middle fingers of the hand.
Melodie (Andantino) is a melodious exercise for cultivating independence of fingers.
Scherzino (Allegro) is a tuneful study for double note playing with the right hand.
Hungarian (Presto con fuoco) has the characteristic fire and syncopated rhythm of a Brahms' Hungarian Dance, and is a study for the development of dash, speed and virtuoso playing.
OPUS 40. SIX LOVE SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.
Composed, 1890. First Published, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. Sweet Blue-Eyed Maid.
2. Sweetheart, Tell Me.
3. Thy Beaming Eyes.
4. For Sweet Love's Sake.
5. O Lovely Rose.
6. I Ask But This.
These songs, although not absolutely of the composer's best, have a charm, tenderness of feeling and beauty of expression that is often irresistible. They are essentially the love songs of a romantic, but refined and gifted poet. As a whole they are singularly free from sexual sensuousness, which is so often a trait in songs of their type. There is an idealism, wonderfully fresh and pure, about them, that is antagonistic to the composer's own assertion that verse often becomes doggerel when harnessed to music in song form.
Sweet Blue-Eyed Maid. (Daintily, not too sentimentally.) The spirit of this song is happy and it is beautifully, although simply, expressed.
Sweetheart, Tell Me. (Softly, tenderly.) The ability of MacDowell to suggest a definite mood in music is clearly demonstrated in this song, which has a simple melody of wonderful appeal and tenderness.
Thy Beaming Eyes. (With sentiment, passionately.) This is the most widely known of all MacDowell's songs. The composer himself thought it too sentimental and was not pleased with the popularity it gained. There is no mistaking its passionate feeling, however, and it strikes the human note frankly and spontaneously, without becoming commonplace. The song is at least sincere, and its popularity can do no harm to its composer's deeper music, which is less easily understood.
Gramophone records of Thy Beaming Eyes have been made for
"Columbia" by Charles W. Clarke, baritone, and for "His Master's
Voice" by Sophie Breslau, contralto.
For Sweet Love's Sake. (Simply, with feeling.) This song is not a very successful alliance of words and music. The former are of tender content, while the latter is after the style of a pleasant lullaby. The music does not in the least reflect the spirit of the words.
O Lovely Rose. (Slowly, with great simplicity.) This is the pure lyric gem of the Six Love Songs by MacDowell. It is very short, but has a rare charm and fragrance.
I Ask But This. (Moderately fast, almost banteringly.) There is an attractive piquancy and lightness about this song that makes it distinct from its companions. It suggests light-hearted love, and its demure ending, as the lovers part, was a happy thought on the part of the composer.
OPUS 41. TWO PART-SONGS, FOR MALE CHORUS.
Composed, 1890. First Published, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. Cradle Song.
2. Dance of the Gnomes.
These two part-songs are effectively written and sharply contrasted. Their contrast furnishes good reason why both should be sung in the order given, and not robbed of their natural companionship.
OPUS 42. FIRST SUITE, IN A MINOR, FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.
Composed, about 1890-91. First Performed, September, 1891, at the Worcester, U.S.A., Musical Festival. First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Movements First Published, 1891. Third Movement First Published, 1893 (Complete—Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. In a Haunted Forest.
2. Summer Idyl.
3. In October.
4. The Song of the Shepherdess.
5. Forest Spirits.
This suite, although reminiscent of the nineteenth century German romanticism amongst which MacDowell was educated, has an atmosphere of its own that at once distinguishes it as an example of the highly sensitive and suggestive tone poetry peculiar to its composer. The work is very skilfully written and is remarkable for its freshness and buoyancy of spirit. The scoring is exquisite and always illustrative of the poetical subjects of the suite. Each of the pieces has in its title a suggestion of a scene of Nature, the first and last having also the fanciful and imaginative atmosphere of folk-lore; this provided MacDowell with a task in tone painting such as he loved. In In a Haunted Forest and Forest Spirits we have examples of the romantic and fanciful sort of tone poetry characteristic of the composer. In the Summer Idyl, in the fine, mellow beauty of In October and in the lovely Song of the Shepherdess we have MacDowell composing in his beloved Nature style, although not in a manner quite comparable with the pianoforte pieces, Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, and New England Idyls, Op. 62. As a whole, the First Suite for Orchestra is not the finest of MacDowell's orchestral works up to this stage, but it stands alone in the style of its poetic subject matter. It has not the same bearing as Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22, Lancelot and Elaine, Op. 25_, Lamia, Op. 29, or The Saracens and the Lovely Alda, Op. 30, which all have an historical or romantic outlook, but it possesses instead the wonderful spirit of mysterious Nature. Even the noble Second (Indian) Suite for Orchestra, the grandest of MacDowell's orchestral works, cannot alter the position of this first suite, which has an interest entirely its own. In performance the work is notable for its fresh and finely-coloured material, and makes a fine item in a concert because of its brilliancy and the charmingly interesting suggestions of its poetic sub-titles.
OPUS 43. TWO NORTHERN PART-SONGS, FOR MIXED CHORUS.
Composed, 1891. First Published, 1891 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. The Brook.
2. Slumber Song.
These are well written and effective part-songs, making lovely unaccompanied choral numbers. They have been undeservedly overshadowed by the composer's instrumental and solo songs. Both should be sung together for the sake of the intentional contrast.
OPUS 44. BARCAROLLE, FOR MIXED CHORUS AND ACCOMPANIMENT FOR PIANOFORTE DUET.
First Appeared, 1892 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
This is a meritorious choral piece, skilfully written. The somewhat elaborate accompaniment for pianoforte requires two players.
OPUS 45. FIRST SONATA, TRAGICA, IN G MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE.
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.
OPUS 46. TWELVE VIRTUOSO STUDIES, FOR PIANOFORTE.
Composed, 1893-94. First Published, 1894 (Breitkopf & Härtel).
1. Novelette.
2. Moto Perpetuo.
3. Wild Chase.
4. Improvisation.
5. Elfin Dance.
6. Valse Triste.
7. Burlesque.
8. Bluette.
9. Traumerei.
10. March Wind.
11. Impromptu.
12. Polonaise.
These studies, while indicated by the composer as requiring advanced technique for performance, are full of poetical thought and tonal beauty that make them worthy of study. Many of them possess that Nature tone painting, that mystic, subtle romanticism of whispering tree-tops and elfin glades, that freshness and open air spirit which distinguish MacDowell's later short pieces.
Novelette is an attractive study and full of the composer's own individual spirit. It is considered to be one of the best of the set.
Moto Perpetuo is cleverly written and musical.
Wild Chase is one of those exhilarating, imaginative pieces so characteristic of MacDowell. It is full of outdoor poetry and suggestive of a wild and glorious ride over the great American prairies, or of a dream gallop full of breathless fancy.
Improvisation exhibits the composer's finer poetry and mastery of his art.
Elfin Dance is suggestive and imaginative.
Valse Triste is expressive and interesting, although not one of the most distinguished of the set.
Burlesque is a musical number, bright in spirit and free from commonplace.
Bluette is a beautiful piece of tone painting.
Traumerei has a certain beauty of its own, indicating the composer's capacity for deep expression.
March Wind is full of the wild open-air breeziness associated in our thoughts with the subject of its inspiration, and captures the imagination. For a minute or so we can escape the heavy atmosphere confined within four walls and rush with the sweeping wind, high above cities and out over the broad, rolling country beyond. The study has a background of spaciousness that suggests American scenery.
Impromptu is interesting and musical.
Polonaise has brilliance and is well and effectively conceived for big pianoforte tone production.
OPUS 47. EIGHT SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.
Composed, 1893. First Published, 1893 (Breitkopf & Härtel).
1. The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree.
2. Midsummer Lullaby.
3. Folk Song.
4. Confidence.
5. The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees.
6. In the Woods.
7. The Sea.
8. Through the Meadow.
With the composition of these songs, MacDowell fairly entered into his finest and most mature period. They are beautiful, characteristic, and full of that engaging romance, piquancy and poetic charm that distinguishes his best lyrical work.
The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree is written to the composer's own words, which may be found in the published book of his verses. The song is infinitely tender and tinged with that wistfulness that he so often infused into his music. Particularly beautiful is the spirit of the last verse:—
O robin, and thou blackbird brave,
My songs of love have died;
How can you sing as in byegone days,
When she was at my side.
Midsummer Lullaby has much charm and grace in its refined and sensitive verse inspiration.
Folk Song is characteristic and melodious.
Confidence shows a lyric power of unusual quality and although the music is not always in sympathy with the verse, the true spirit of poetry is there.
The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees is written to the lines of MacDowell's little poem entitled, To Maud. This song is beautiful and full of feeling, and tells in its three verses of Love's expectation, doubt and disappointment. The music is allied with perfect sympathy to the words.
In the Woods was written to the composer's lines after Goethe. This song is a pure lyric, touched with just enough romance to deepen its significance.
The Sea is well written, showing some of the power and healthiness of the true MacDowell open-air spirit.
Through the Meadow makes an exquisite vocal piece, thoroughly attractive in its freshness. It is a song of the true nature-poet, breathing the atmosphere of its title in the most delightful and sensitive manner.
OPUS 48. SECOND SUITE (INDIAN), FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.
First Performed, January, 1896, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in New York. First Performance in England, October 23rd, 1901, at a London Queen's Hall Promenade Concert. Conductor, Sir (then Mr.) Henry J. Wood. First Published, 1897 (Breitkopf and Härtel).
Dedicated to Emil Paur and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Optional Titles to Movements, Furnished by the Composer.
1. Legend.
2. Love-Song.
3. In War Time.
4. Dirge.
5. Village Festival.
In the Indian Suite we have one of the most graphic examples of MacDowell's power of creating atmospheres and impressions of big subjects. It is the finest and most mature of his orchestral works, thoroughly individual and without a trace of the nineteenth century German romanticism that is found in his earlier productions. Its musical declamation is commanding and infinitely noble. The atmosphere of the great rolling plains, mighty forests, and vast and lonely retreats is unerringly created. The notes of wildness and an indescribably touching spirit of far away romance are sounded, telling of a forgotten and dying elemental race. In the Suite the lodges of the Red men rise again before our eyes; their old legends, savage war dances, love romances, their sorrows, joys and festivities live once more. MacDowell has caught the spirit of the days when the rude, but curiously interesting aborigines of America lived; of days that are now but treasured legends that still stir the hearts of the young in many lands. He conveyed a feeling of this atmosphere in his music with an unerring touch, the effect of which is heightened by the use of material derived from the native tunes of the North American Indians. The Indian Suite is undoubtedly one of the most noble and impressive works that MacDowell ever composed, containing in the Dirge movement one of his most striking utterances. In his last days he expressed a preference for this above anything else he had composed. The Suite is full of stirring strength, vast tonalities, depth of feeling and elemental greatness, and is scored with a mastery of orchestral tone colour used solely and unerringly to enhance the poetic suggestiveness of the whole. It was fully sketched between three and four years before its first appearance, as the composer spent much time in becoming more closely acquainted with Red Indian tunes.
1. Legend (Not fast. With much dignity and character). This opens with a romantic horn-call of the plains that is significant of the whole Suite:—
[Music.]
It is heard again at the end of the last movement. Indescribable is the effect of the paused note, the silence, and then the far away answer. The call is elaborated with rich effect, but the atmosphere of vastness and loneliness is preserved. The suggestiveness of this introduction is wonderfully vivid, for in a moment we are transported from the civilisation of to-day to the wildness and romance of the old days on the plains of the great West. The introduction finished, the movement proper begins (Twice as fast. With decision.) with a long tremolo on the note B. At the fifth bar a harvest song of the Iroquois Indians appears:—
[Music.]
Vivid in effect is the following striving figure:—
[Music.]
The Indian theme is now elaborated at some length with much richness, and is wild in effect. After this a tender MacDowell-like second subject appears:—
[Music.]
This contemplative atmosphere is soon broken as the influence of the native theme is felt, and the striving figure is also heard. The music grows more and more wild and intricate, working up to a tearing intensity and then dying away until only a few deep murmurs remain. The striving figure is heard twice, and then follows a small bridge to a repetition of the tender second subject, now heard pianissimo under a swaying, chord accompaniment. After a time it grows in intensity and imperceptibly merges into the romantic call of the introduction, the influence of which, however, is at once felt. The music now mounts to a tremendous pose of strength, double fortissimo, the final bars striking the same attitude in a deeper and more stolid form. There is little in music of such iron-like force as the conclusion of this Legend. The thundering tremolos and chords are not intricate or beautiful, their very splendour lying in their stark, magnificent elemental power.
2. Love-Song (Not fast. Tenderly). This opens with the tune of a love song of the Iowa Indians:—
[Music.]
This little after thought brings a touch of romance:—
[Music.]
A new and equally tender theme follows:—
[Music.]
Although not of great importance, this little episode is notable for its poetic suggestion of the Red Indian atmosphere:—
[Music.]
The music now goes on its way, rich in harmonic and instrumental colour, but always clear, now soft and lulling, now approaching the passionate. The first theme is heard again, and the Love-Song is then concluded by the little after thought.
3. In War Time (With rough vigour, almost savagely). A rude war song of the Iroquois Indians opens this movement:—
[Music.]
The rhythm of its continuation is afterwards made much of, particularly the active semiquaver figure:—
[Music.]
The opening theme is now repeated with the implied harmonies, the whole progressing with increasing intensity, the figure of the second illustration being prominent. The music surges wildly, undulating in a manner that suggests a Redskin scalp dance, the hideous, painted figures now bending low, now holding their weapons high above their heads. At length the fury of the war dance reaches an elan that exhausts it, the barbaric figure referred to in our second illustration becoming more and more prominent, then sinking lower and lower until it is nothing more than a series of thudding accents, broken by periods of silence of increasing length. The effect is one of horses galloping further and further away into the distance. After this the whole atmosphere changes, and a mournful, lonely cry is heard:—
[Music.]
We may find the significance of this in the fact that it is a prominent figure of the Dirge, No. 4 of the suite. The active figure is now heard again, deep and almost inaudible, softly ushering in the barbaric opening theme, now heard in the bass. The warriors appear to be returning as the music once more grows in volume. Wilder and wilder it grows—a moment's silence—only to begin again faster and faster. Still faster does it become until it is almost a scream, the conclusion coming in a magnificent series of reiterated chords thundered out with the full strength of the orchestra employed. There is no doubt that this piece is one of the most vividly imaginative and brilliant in the whole range of orchestral music, although it is rarely performed with the skill and insight it requires.
4. Dirge (Dirge-like, mournfully). "Of all my music," said MacDowell after his last music had been published, "the Dirge in the Indian Suite pleases me most. It affects me deeply and did when I was writing it. In it an Indian woman laments the death of her son; but to me, as I wrote it, it seemed to express a world-sorrow rather than a particularised grief." The piece is undoubtedly one of its composer's most melancholy utterances. Under a long series of reiterated key notes of the tonic minor, the wailing phrase heard in In War Time (No. 3 of the suite) appears:—
[Music.]
It goes on at some length with increasing sadness and richer harmonic and instrumental colouring (indescribable is the effect of a muted horn heard off the platform). Soon comes a deep and solemn bass uttering, heart-shaking in its grief. We give it with the passage leading up to it:—
[Music.]
After a while the music rises with the same lonely mournfulness to an outburst of despair:—
[Music.]
The sad opening phase follows and after this the solemn bass figure. The close is mysterious but piercing in its sobbing, inconsolable grief.
[Music.]
This Dirge is indisputably the cry of a great soul, and there is little in music which expresses grief so effectively. The sense it gives of loneliness and sombreness has never been quite equalled by any other composer. The piece is not a funeral oration weighed down with pomp, but the spontaneous grief of elemental humanity. The scene is of a mother mourning for her son; its significance is of a world sorrow. The music would honour any composer, living or dead.
5. Village Festival (Swift and light). This number is the longest of the Suite. It opens with the tune of a squaws' dance of the Iroquois Indians:—
[Music.]
This is soon followed by another of festivity:—
[Music.]
The music proceeds, rich in harmonic and instrumental colouring, and vividly suggesting the wild orgies of the village festivities of the Red Indians. The whole works up to frenzied power until exhaustion comes and it dies down again. Indicated as slightly broader, the opening tune is now heard softly over mysterious tremolos. Particularly subdued is the wild and sombre after thought:—
[Music.]
After a time, the striving figure first heard early in the first number of this suite, Legend, appears. The thumping accents of the festal dance are now heard again, softly, and soon we hear the opening tune. The wild excitement begins to return, growing to a frenzy in which a reminiscence of the first theme of the Legend may be noticed. Soon the music sinks down again, but never losing its strongly-marked accents, and now hastening its course. The second festive theme is heard softly, high in the scale. Faster and faster, but still subdued, grows the music, the striving figure of the Legend being prominent. A broadening out then comes and with it a magnificent, raw strength, in which is heard the romantic call that opens the whole work in the introduction to the first movement. The bare tonic is now struck with a gesture of great force. A roll of sound follows. Again the bare note is sounded, and again the roll of sound succeeds. The last dozen bars thunder solely on the tonic note, with a rude, but stern and manly elemental absence of harmonic colouring, typifying with undeniable dignity the savage, but often impressive and noble figure of the Red Man, forgotten now that his great race has been succeeded by the greatest and most striking nation of the white races—the Republic of the West.
The Indian Suite is obtainable in pianoforte score.