First Published, 1883 (C.F.  Kahnt Nachfolger.  British Empire—­Elkin & Co.).

  1. My Love and I (Op. 11, No. 1).

  2. You Love Me Not! (Op. 11, No. 2).

  3. In the Sky, where Stars are Glowing (Op. 11, No. 3).

  4. Night Song (Op. 12, No. 1).

  5. The Chain of Roses (Op. 12, No. 2).

These songs are interesting as the first examples published of MacDowell’s work in this form of composition.  They are well written and obviously sincere, which is in itself a merit rare in song writing, but they have little of the individual charm and beauty of expression found in the composer’s later song groups. My Love and I is the most popular of the set, having a certain distinctive charm of its own.

OPUS 13.  PRELUDE AND FUGUE, FOR PIANOFORTE.

First Published, 1883. (Revised Edition—­Arthur P. Schmidt).

This is a well-written number in conventional form, but it is obviously foreign to MacDowell’s temperament, which was only at its best in subjects having some definite poetical basis.  The work was later revised by the composer, and while quite a good example of its form, as a MacDowell work it is unconvincing.

OPUS 14.  SECOND MODERN SUITE, FOR PIANOFORTE.

Composed, Frankfort-Darmstadt, 1881. First Published, 1883 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

Dedicated to Camille Saint-Saens.

  1. Praeludium.

  2. Fugato.

  3. Rhapsody.

  4. Scherzino.

  5. March.

  6. Fantastic Dance.

Much of this music was composed in the makeshift studio of a German railway carriage, while the composer was travelling to and fro to give lessons, between Frankfort and Darmstadt and from one of these to Erbach-Fuerstenau, the latter place entailing a typically tiring Continental journey.  The suite, like its predecessor, the First Modern Suite for Pianoforte, Op. 10, was published at Leipzig by Breitkopf and Haertel on the recommendation of Liszt.  The music is of little importance to-day, although it is melodious and well written.  The opening Praeludium foreshadows the composer’s later regard for significance of expression, for it bears an explanatory quotation from Byron’s Manfred.  Teresa Carreno, the masculine woman pianist, from whom MacDowell had received one or two early lessons in pianoforte playing, performed the Suite in New York City on March 8th, 1884, and toured three movements of it in the following year, in other parts of the United States.

OPUS 15.  FIRST CONCERTO, IN A MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE AND ORCHESTRA.

Composed, Frankfort, 1882. First Published, 1885 (Breitkopf & Haertel).