The Project Gutenberg eBook, Edward MacDowell, by Elizabeth Fry Page

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Title: Edward MacDowell

Author: Elizabeth Fry Page

Release Date: October 16, 2004 [eBook #13767]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDWARD MACDOWELL***

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EDWARD MACDOWELL

His Work and Ideals

by

ELIZABETH FRY PAGE

With Poetical Interpretations by the Author

New York

Dedicated to MRS. ALINE REESE BLONDNER

Founder and Honorary President of the MacDowell Club of Nashville,
Tennessee.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

EDWARD MACDOWELL
His Work and Ideals

POETICAL INTERPRETATIONS

To MacDowell
A. D. 1620
Song
In Deep Woods
Shadow Dance
At an Old Trysting-Place
To a Water Lily
Told at Sunset
To a Wild Rose
The Spirit Call
A Deserted Farm
In Memoriam

PREFACE

This is not merely an appreciation of Edward MacDowell as a man and a
composer, but a study of the influences and natural endowments that
combined to produce his style, a comparison of his work with that of
others who achieved fame in other branches of the fine arts, all of
which he felt were closely allied and supplemental, and a glance at
his ideals and their evolution at Peterboro.

Most of his compositions are written around some poetic idea and are
so suggestive and appealing to the imagination that in studying them
the native poetic fancy is easily aroused; but the full effect is lost
to the casual hearer who is not familiar with the theme. The
accompanying poems are interpretations of some of his best-known piano
numbers, based upon the briefly indicated poetic idea upon which they
are founded, reinforced by a careful intellectual study of each
composition and its appeal to the individual creative faculty of the
author.

The sonnet to MacDowell was written at the beginning of the two
darkened years preceding his death, when he forgot that there was such
a thing as music.

"A.D. 1620" and "Song" are from the "Sea Pieces." The former describes
the sailin