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