Chapter III: Preface (2)

These are two more unimportant pieces in conventional style, indicating that MacDowell had not realized at that time just where his true genius lay. The revised version of _Barcarolle_ made some years after its original publication, fails to make it convincing, although it has a certain outward charm and is well written in the particular style of piece of which it is an example. Poetic significance, as we know it in MacDowell's representative works, is conspicuous by its absence in these two compositions.

OPUS 19. FOREST IDYLS, FOR PIANOFORTE.

_First Published_, 1884. New Edition, 1912 (C. F. Kahnt Nachfolger. British Empire--Elkin & Co.).

_Dedicated to Miss Marian Nevins._

1. _Forest Stillness._

2. _Play of the Nymphs._

3. _Rêverie._

4. _Dance of the Dryads._

These pieces are noteworthy as early attempts at significant expression and the consequent foreshadowing of MacDowell's mature period. Their suggesting of their particular subjects as indicated in the titles is fairly well done, but they are of little importance as music, reflecting as they do the nineteenth century German romanticism that had already been fully exploited by Schumann and others. There is little of the individuality of MacDowell in any of the _Forest Idyls_. The dedication is interesting, for Miss Marian Nevins became Mrs. MacDowell in the year of the original publication of the pieces. The revised edition of _Forest Idyls_ now in circulation in England is by Robert Teichmüller, and was issued in 1912. MacDowell himself revised the _Rêverie_ (No. 3) and the _Dance of the Dryads_ (No. 4) in his later period, and these are published in America by Arthur P. Schmidt.

1. _Forest Stillness_ is an _Adagio_, opening with softly breathed chords _misterioso_. The effect is one of deep stillness, but soon becomes dull and burdensome, seeming to lack that touch of genius found in the composer's later works, which are able to preserve their interest throughout.

2. _Play of the Nymphs_ is technically clever and brilliant, but lacks interest and is too spun out.

3. _Reverie_ is a short and tuneful little piece with little or nothing MacDowell-like in it and much of nineteenth century German romanticism and harmonies. It has been arranged for orchestra, and for pianoforte and strings.

4. _Dance of the Dryads_ would doubtless attract lovers of the Sydney Smith type of salon music, if there are any of them left. It opens in quite a bewitching dance manner and then goes on tinkling away on top notes, with chromatic runs, half floating arpeggios and all the rest of the stock-in-trade of pretty salon music. There are, however, some rather characteristic touches in it, which distinguish it from its companions. The key transitions from A flat major through distant D major and then F sharp major in bars 22, 23 and 24 (Teichmüller 1912 Edition) respectively are quite personal.

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_.