MacDowell found that the confining labors at Darmstadt were telling on his strength, so he gave up the position and remained in Frankfort, dividing his time between private teaching and composing.  He hoped to secure a few paying concert engagements, as those he had already filled had brought in no money.

One day, as he sat dreaming before his piano, some one knocked at the door, and the next instant in walked his master Raff, of whom the young American stood in great awe.  In the course of a few moments, Raff suddenly asked what he had been writing.  In his confusion the boy stammered he had been working on a concerto.  When Raff started to go, he turned back and told the boy to bring the concerto to him the next Sunday.  As even the first movement was not finished, its author set to work with vigor.  When Sunday came only the first movement was ready.  Postponing the visit a week or two, he had time to complete the work, which stands today, as he wrote it then, with scarcely a correction.

At Raff’s suggestion, MacDowell visited Liszt in the spring of 1882.  The dreaded encounter with the master proved to be a delightful surprise, as Liszt treated him with much kindness and courtesy.  Eugen D’Albert, who was present, was asked to accompany the orchestral part of the concerto on a second piano.  Liszt commended the work in warm terms:  “You must bestir yourself,” he warned D’Albert, “if you do not wish to be outdone by our young American.”  Liszt praised his piano playing too, and MacDowell returned to Frankfort in a happy frame of mind.

At a music Convention, held that year in Zurich, in July, MacDowell played his First Piano Suite, and won a good success.  The following year, upon Liszt’s recommendation, both the First and Second Modern Suites were brought out by Breitkopf and Haertel.  “Your two Piano Suites are admirable,” wrote Liszt from Budapest, in February, 1883, “and I accept with sincere pleasure and thanks the dedication of your piano Concerto.”

The passing of Raff, on June 25, 1882, was a severe blow to MacDowell.  It was in memory of his revered teacher that he composed the “Sonata Tragica,” the first of the four great sonatas he has left us.  The slow movement of this Sonata especially embodies his sorrow at the loss of the teacher who once said to him:  “Your music will be played when mine is forgotten.”

For the next two years MacDowell did much composing.  Then in June 1884 he returned to America, and in July was married to his former pupil, Miss Marian Nevins, a union which proved to be ideal for both.  Shortly after this event the young couple returned to Europe.

The next winter was spent in Frankfort, instructing a few private pupils, but mostly in composing, with much reading of the literature of various countries, and, in the spring, with long walks in the beautiful woods about Frankfort.  Wiesbaden became their home during the winter of 1885-6.  The same year saw the completion of the second.  Piano Concerto, in D minor.