One afternoon in the spring of 1887 MacDowell and his friend Templeton Strong, a brilliant American composer who had recently moved from his home in Leipzig to Wiesbaden, were tramping through the country when they came upon a dilapidated cottage on the edge of the woods, in the Grubweg.  It had been built by a rich German, not as a habitation, but as a kind of elaborate summer house.  The situation was enticing.  The little building stood on the side of the Neroberg, overlooking the town on one side, with the Rhine and the Main beyond, and on the other side the woods.  The two Americans were captivated by it, and nothing would do but that MacDowell should purchase it for a home.  There was some question of its practicability by his cooler-headed wife; but eventually the cottage was bought, with half an acre of ground, and the MacDowells ensconced themselves.  There was a small garden, in which MacDowell delighted to dig; the woods were within a stone’s throw; and he and Strong, who were inseparable friends, walked together and disputed amicably concerning principles and methods of music-making, and the need for patriotism, in which Strong was conceived to be deficient.

This was a time of rich productiveness for MacDowell; and the life that he and his wife were able to live was of an ideal serenity and detachment.  He was now devoting his entire energy to composition.  He put forth during these years at Wiesbaden the four pieces of op. 24 ("Humoresque,” “March,” “Cradle Song,” “Czardas"); the symphonic poem “Lancelot and Elaine” (op. 25); the six songs, “From An Old Garden,” to words by Margaret Deland (op. 26); the three songs for male chorus of op. 27 ("In the Starry Sky Above Us,” “Springtime,” “The Fisherboy"); the “Idyls” and “Poems” for piano (op. 28 and op. 31), after Goethe and Heine; the symphonic poem “Lamia” (op. 29); the two “Fragments” for orchestra after the “Song of Roland”:  “The Saracens” and “The Lovely Alda” (op. 30); the “Four Little Poems” for piano—­“The Eagle,” “The Brook,” “Moonshine,” “Winter” (op. 32); the three songs of op. 33 ("Prayer,” “Cradle Hymn,” “Idyl”) and the two of op. 34 ("Menie,” “My Jean"); and the “Romance” for ’cello and orchestra.  He had, moreover, the satisfaction of knowing that his work was being received, both in Europe and in his own country, with interest and respect.  His reputation had begun unmistakably to spread.  “Hamlet and Ophelia” had been performed at Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden, Sondershausen, Frankfort.  On March 8, 1884, his former teacher, Teresa Carreno, had played his second piano suite at a recital in New York; in March of the following year two movements from the first suite were played at an “American Concert” given at Princes’ Hall, London; on March 30, 1885, at one of Mr. Frank Van der Stucken’s “Novelty Concerts” in New York, Miss Adele Margulies played the second and third movements from the first piano concerto.  In the same year Mme. Carreno played on tour in America three movements from the