brilliancy and the
charmingly interesting suggestions of its poetic sub-titles.

OPUS 43. TWO NORTHERN PART-SONGS, FOR MIXED CHORUS.

_Composed_, 1891. _First Published_, 1891 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

1. _The Brook_.

2. _Slumber Song_.

These are well written and effective part-songs, making lovely
unaccompanied choral numbers. They have been undeservedly
overshadowed by the composer's instrumental and solo songs. Both
should be sung together for the sake of the intentional contrast.

OPUS 44. BARCAROLLE, FOR MIXED CHORUS AND ACCOMPANIMENT FOR
PIANOFORTE DUET.

_First Appeared_, 1892 (Arthur P. Schmidt).

This is a meritorious choral piece, skilfully written. The
somewhat elaborate accompaniment for pianoforte requires two
players.

OPUS 45. FIRST SONATA, TRAGICA, IN G MINOR, FOR PIANOFORTE.

_Composed_, 1892-3. _Third Movement First Publicly Played, March
18th_, 1892, _at Checkering Hall, Boston, U.S.A., by the
Composer. First Public Complete Performance, March_, 1893, _at a
Kneisal Quartet Concert at Chickering Hall, Boston. Played by the
Composer. First Published_, 1893 (Breitkopf & Haertel).

1. _Largo maestoso--Allegro risoluto_.

2. _Molto allegro, vivace_.

3. _Largo con maesta_.

4. _Allegro eroico_.

Huneker, the celebrated American writer on music, described this
sonata, soon after its appearance, as "the most marked contribution
to solo sonata literature since Brahms' F minor piano sonata." The
work is chiefly notable for its general boldness and strength,
punctuated by passages of intimate tenderness and deepness of
expression, and its slow movement is one of MacDowell's most
inspired efforts. The great demerit of the sonata, however, is its
lack of cohesive thought. As a whole it suggests the spectacle of
a highly gifted poet, full of emotional ardour and desire for self
expression, but lacking the requisite skill to bind long continued
effort into a cohesive whole; and who makes the mistake of trying
to cramp his undoubtedly beautiful ideas by compressing them into
a set form. The _Sonata Tragica_ is more of a traditional sonata
than its successors, the _Eroica, Op. 50_, the _Norse, Op. 57_, and
the _Keltic, Op. 59_, but as a work of art is less successful. Its
subjects are quite fine, showing, individually, great strength of
character and tender feeling, but they often appear to have no
definite connection with each other. In the first movement
especially we fi