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Edward MacDowell

 
Artist: Edward MacDowell
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Edward MacDowell
  • Period: Post-Romantic (1870-1909)
  • Country: USA
  • Born: December 18, 1860 in New York, NY
  • Died: January 23, 1908 in New York, NY
  • Genres: Concerto, Keyboard Music, Orchestral Music

Biography

At the beginning of the twentieth century, MacDowell was regarded as the single most important composer in the American canon. Future developments in American music dented that reputation, and his music went into a long eclipse, although its influence is strongly felt in the incidental music composed for American radio programs and animated cartoons of the 1930s. MacDowell's supporters are many, including eminent pianists such as André Watts and Constance Keene. They decry the neglect of MacDowell's works, and perhaps justly so; many are outstanding in quality, particularly the Sketches and the "Keltic" Sonata, the latter being an exploration of MacDowell's own Scots-Irish roots.

Edward MacDowell was born in New York City, the son of a milkman and his musically inclined spouse. At eight, MacDowell began piano lessons with a boarder in the home, Juan Buitrago. Through Buitrago, the boy MacDowell met pianist and international concert star Teresa Carreño, who also provided MacDowell with instruction and encouragement. In the late nineteenth century, the only way for a promising American musician to obtain a musical education was to travel to Europe. MacDowell and his mother made the trip to Paris in April 1877, MacDowell enrolling into the Paris Conservatoire. In 1878, MacDowell heard Nikolai Rubinstein in the first Tchaikovsky piano concerto, and with that, he decided to abandon Paris and study in Germany. He went first to Stuttgart, then Wiesbaden, and finally to Frankfurt where he studied with Joachim Raff and concertized in the presence of Franz Liszt. MacDowell began to take in piano pupils of his own, and one of them, Margaret Nevins, became MacDowell's wife in 1884. On Liszt's recommendation MacDowell began to pursue composition rather than performance, and his First and Second Modern Suites were widely successful on first publication, with Carreño helping to spread the word through her frequent programming of these works.

In 1888, Benjamin Johnson Lang, a close family friend, encouraged MacDowell to resettle in Boston, then the center of concert life in America. From this time until 1896 MacDowell enjoyed his greatest successes and patronage, and it is during this time that MacDowell wrote most of his music: the Second Piano Concerto, Indian Suite, Sonata Tragica, most of his songs, and the Woodland Sketches. This last named work contained both To a Water Lily and To a Wild Rose, both destined to become staples of American piano repertoire and known to every student.

In 1895, the MacDowells purchased a farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, so that the nervy MacDowell could concentrate effectively on his work. In 1896, MacDowell was named head of the newly established music department at Columbia University, an important academic position at a major liberal arts college. MacDowell quickly won the admiration of his colleagues and students through his boundless energy and enthusiasm. However, in 1902 Columbia elected a new president, Nicholas Murray Butler, who did not share MacDowell's vision and sought to eliminate the music department altogether. This instituted a heated conflict between Butler and MacDowell that mainly served to undermine the health of the short-tempered composer, which was further aggravated by MacDowell's being run down in 1904 by a cab on the New York City streets. That year, MacDowell resigned from Columbia, and afterward his health began to decline rapidly. He died on the Peterborough farm on January 23, 1908 at age 47. In accordance with MacDowell's own wishes, MacDowell's widow later converted the farm into an artist's colony, which has become the best-known and most respected environment of its kind in the United States. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Edward MacDowell
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Edward MacDowell

Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860[1] - January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites "Woodland Sketches", "Sea Pieces", and "New England Idylls". "Woodland Sketches" includes his most popular short piece, "To a Wild Rose". In 1904 he was one of the first seven Americans honored by membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Contents

Biography

Edward MacDowell was born in New York City. He received his first piano lessons from Juan Buitrago, a Colombian violinist who was living with the MacDowell family at the time. He later received lessons from friends of Buitrago, including Teresa Carreño, a Venezuelan pianist.

His family later moved to Paris, France, where in 1877 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. He then continued his education at Dr. Hoch's Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany where he studied piano with Carl Heymann and composition with Joachim Raff. When Franz Liszt visited the conservatory in 1879 and attended a recital of student compositions, MacDowell performed some of his own compositions, along with a transcription of a Liszt symphonic poem. MacDowell also taught piano at "Schmitt’s Akademie für Tonkunst" in Darmstadt (now known as the "Akademie für Tonkunst") for a year.

Marriage and family

In 1884, MacDowell married Marian Griswold Nevins, an American who was one of his piano students in Frankfurt for three years. About the time that MacDowell composed a piano piece titled "Cradle Song", Marian suffered an illness that resulted in her being unable to bear children.[2]

Career

The MacDowells settled first in Frankfurt, then in Wiesbaden. From 1885 to 1888 MacDowell devoted himself almost exclusively to composition. Driven in part by financial difficulties, he decided to return to America in the autumn of 1888.[3]

Edward and Marian MacDowell   (c 1905)

The MacDowells lived in Boston until 1896, when MacDowell became professor of music at Columbia University. He held this position until 1904. In addition to composing and teaching, from 1896-1898 he directed the Mendelssohn Glee Club. MacDowell composed some music for the group to perform.

In 1896 Marian MacDowell purchased Hillcrest Farm, to serve as their summer residence in Peterborough, New Hampshire. MacDowell found his creativity flourished in the beautiful setting.

MacDowell's compositions included two piano concertos, two orchestral suites, four symphonic poems, four piano sonatas, piano suites, and songs. He also published dozens of piano transcriptions of mostly 18th century pre-piano keyboard pieces.[4]

From 1896 to 1898, MacDowell also published 13 piano pieces and 4 partsongs under the pseudonym of Edgar Thorn. These compositions were not mentioned in Lawrence Gilman's 1909 biography of MacDowell. They were listed without opus numbers in MacDowell's Critical and Historical Essays (1912) and in John F. Porte's Edward MacDowell (1922). They were listed with opus numbers in Oscar Sonneck's Catalogue of First Editions of Edward MacDowell (1917).

In 1904, MacDowell was one of the first seven people chosen for membership in The American Academy of Arts and Letters. After this experience, the MacDowells envisioned establishing a colony for artists near their summer home in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

A 1904 accident in which MacDowell was run over by a Hansom cab may have contributed to a growing disorder and dementia. This ended his composing and teaching career, causing him to lose his mental capacities. Lawrence Gilman, a contemporary, described him: "His mind became as that of a little child. He sat quietly, day after day, in a chair by a window, smiling patiently from time to time at those about him, turning the pages of a book of fairy tales that seemed to give him a definite pleasure, and greeting with a fugitive gleam of recognition certain of his more intimate friends."[5]

The Mendelssohn Glee Club raised money to help the MacDowells. Friends launched a public appeal to raise funds for his care; among the signers were Horatio Parker, Victor Herbert, Arthur Foote, George Whitefield Chadwick, Frederick Converse, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan and former President Grover Cleveland

Marian MacDowell cared for her husband to the end of his life. In 1907 she founded the MacDowell Colony by deeding the Hillcrest Farm to the newly established Edward MacDowell Association. She led the Association and Colony for more than 25 years, building its endowment through resuming her performing career, and creating a wide circle of support, especially among women's clubs and musical sororities.

Edward MacDowell died in 1908 and was buried at the MacDowell Colony, which Marian established at Hillcrest Farm in 1907.

Legacy and honors

  • 1940 - MacDowell was one of five American composers honored in a series of United States postage stamps. The other four composers were Stephen Foster, John Phillip Sousa, Victor Herbert, and Ethelbert Nevin.
  • The MacDowell Colony continues to honor his memory by supporting the work of other artists in an interdisciplinary environment.

Works

For Robert La Fosse's ballet to MacDowell's music, see Woodland Sketches.
Portrait of Edward MacDowell

The following lists were compiled from information in collections of sheet music, Lawrence Gilman's Edward MacDowell: A Study (1908), Oscar Sonneck's Catalogue of First Editions of Edward MacDowell (1917), and John F. Porte's Edward MacDowell (1922).

Published compositions for piano, a complete listing

Op. 1 Amourette (1896) by Edgar Thorn
Op. 2 In Lilting Rhythm (1897) by Edgar Thorn
Op. 4 Forgotten Fairy Tales (1897) by Edgar Thorn
Op. 7 Six Fancies (1898) by Edgar Thorn
In 1895, an "op. 8 Waltz" for piano by MacDowell was listed by Breitkopf & Hartel, but no price was shown, and the piece was not published.[6]
Op. 10 First Modern Suite (1883)
Op. 13 Prelude and Fugue (1883)
Op. 14 Second Modern Suite (1883)
Op. 15 First Concerto (1885)
Op. 16 Serenata (1883)
Op. 17 Two Fantastic Pieces (1884)
Op. 18 Two Compositions (1884)
Op. 19 Forest Idylls (1884)
Op. 20 Three Poems (1886) duets
Op. 21 Moon Pictures (1886) duets after Hans Christian Andersen's "Picture-book without Pictures"
Op. 23 Second Concerto (1890)
Op. 24 Four Compositions (1887)
Op. 28 Six Idylls after Goethe (1887)
Op. 31 Six Poems after Heine (1887,1901)
Op. 32 Four Little Poems (1888)
Op. 36 Etude de Concert (1889)
Op. 37 Les Orientales (1889)
Op. 38 Marionettes (1888,1901)
Op. 39 Twelve Studies (1890)
Op. 45 Sonata Tragica (1893)
Op. 46 Twelve Virtuoso Studies (1894)
Op. 49 Air and Rigaudon (1894)
Op. 50 Sonata Eroica (1895) "Flos regum Arthurus"
Op. 51 Woodland Sketches (1896)
Op. 55 Sea Pieces (1898)
Op. 57 Third Sonata (1900)
Op. 59 Fourth Sonata (1901)
Op. 61 Fireside Tales (1902)
Op. 62 New England Idylls (1902)

MacDowell published two books of Technical Exercises for piano; piano duet transcriptions of Hamlet and Ophelia for orchestra (op. 22); First Suite for orchestra (op.42); and a piano solo version of op. 42, no. 4, "The Shepherdess' Song", renamed "The Song of the Shepherdess".

Published compositions for orchestra, a complete listing

Op. 15 First Concerto (1885)
Op. 22 Hamlet and Ophelia (1885)
Op. 23 Second Concerto (1890)
Op. 25 Lancelot and Elaine (1888)
Op. 29 Lamia (1908)
Op. 30 Two Fragments after the Song of Roland (1891) I. The Saracens - II. The Lovely Alda
Op. 35 Romance for Violoncello and Orchestra (1888)
Op. 42 First Suite (1891-1893) I. In a Haunted Forest - II. Summer Idyl - III. In October - IV. The Shepherdess' Song - V. Forest Spirits
Op. 48 Second ("Indian") Suite (1897) I. Legend - II. Love Song - III. In War-time - IV. Dirge - V. Village Festival

Published songs

Op. 3 Love and Time and The Rose and the Gardener, for male chorus (1897) by Edgar Thorn

Op. 5 The Witch, for male chorus (1898) by Edgar Thorn

Op. 6 War Song, for male chorus (1898) by Edgar Thorn

Op. 9 Two Old Songs, for voice and piano (1894) I. Deserted - II. Slumber Song

Op. 11 and 12 An Album of Five Songs, for voice and piano (1883) I. My Love and I - II. You Love Me Not - III. In the Skies - IV. Night-Song - V. Bands of Roses

Op. 26 From an Old Garden, for voice and piano (1887) I. The Pansy - II. The Myrtle - III. The Clover - IV. The Yellow Daisy - V. The Blue Bell - VI. The Mignonette

Op. 27 Three Songs, for male chorus (1890) I. In the Starry Sky Above Us - II. Springtime - III. The Fisherboy

Op. 33 Three Songs, for voice and piano (1894) I. Prayer - II. Cradle Hymn - III. Idyl

Op. 34 Two Songs, for voice and piano (1889) I. Menie - II. My Jean

Op. 40 Six Love Songs, for voice and piano (1890) I. Sweet, Blue-eyed Maid - II. Sweetheart, Tell Me - III. Thy Beaming Eyes - IV. For Love's Sweet Sake - V. O Lovely Rose - VI. I Ask but This

Op. 41 Two Songs, for male chorus (1890) I. Cradle Song - II. Dance of the Gnomes

Op. 43 Two Northern Songs, for mixed chorus (1891) I. The Brook - II. Slumber Song

Op. 44 Barcarolle, for mixed chorus with four-hand piano accompaniment (1892)

Op. 47 Eight Songs, for voice and piano (1893) I. The Robin Sings in the Apple Tree - II. Midsummer Lullaby - III. Folk Song - IV. Confidence - V. The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees - VI. In the Woods - VII. The Sea - VIII. Through the Meadow

Two Songs from the Thirteenth Century, for male chorus (1897) I. Winter Wraps his Grimmest Spell - II. As the Gloaming Shadows Creep

Op. 52 Three Choruses, for male voices (1897) I. Hush, hush! - II. From the Sea - III. The Crusaders

Op. 53 Two Choruses, for male voices (1898) I. Bonnie Ann - II. The Collier Lassie

Op. 54 Two Choruses, for male voices (1898) I. A Ballad of Charles the Bold - II. Midsummer Clouds

Op. 56 Four Songs, for voice and piano (1898) I. Long Ago - II. The Swan Bent Low to the Lily - III. A Maid Sings Light - IV. As the Gloaming Shadows Creep

Op. 58 Three Songs, for voice and piano (1899) I. Constancy - II. Sunrise - III. Merry Maiden Spring

Op. 60 Three Songs, for voice and piano (1902) I. Tyrant Love - II. Fair Springtide - III. To the Golden Rod

Summer Wind, for women's voices (1902)

Two College Songs, for women's voices (1907) I. Alma Mater - II. At Parting

Recordings

Publications

  • Lawrence Gilman, Edward MacDowell: A Study (New York, 1909)
  • W. J. Baltzell (editor), Critical and Historical Essays: Lectures Delivered at Columbia University by Edward MacDowell (Boston, 1912)
  • Oscar Sonneck, Catalogue of First Editions of Edward MacDowell (Library of Congress, 1917)
  • John F. Porte, Edward Macdowell: A Great American Tone Poet, His Life and Music (New York, 1922)

References

  1. ^ Until 1975, it was generally accepted that MacDowell's year of birth was 1861. A scholarly article in The Musical Quarterly [1] corrected this error.
  2. ^ Lawrence Gilman, op. cit., page 26.
  3. ^ D. Pesce: 'MacDowell, Edward', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 7 January 2006), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
  4. ^ W. J. Baltzell, op. cit., pages 288-289.
  5. ^ Lawrence Gilman, op. cit., page 54.
  6. ^ Oscar Sonneck, op. cit., page 9.

External links


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