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This chapter examines the ideas debated by composers and critics at the turn of the twentieth century related to the concept of what is “Indian” and the meaning of American expressions of musical nationalism. It analyzes the works of composers Antonin Dvorak and Edward MacDowell, which were central in the debate. It explains that Dvorak and MacDowell experimented with ways to draw on American Indian music and they both served as models for composers of art music who longed to find the “spiritual soul of America”.

This chapter describes MacDowell's activities from 1901–1904. These include his efforts to establish a united Department of Fine Arts at Columbia that would integrate music with the sister arts of painting, sculpture, and comparative literature; his publication of extensively revised editions of Six Idyls after Goethe, op. 28; Six Poems after Heine, op. 31; and Marionettes, op. 38, in the fall of 1901; and his public clash with new university president Butler which ultimately led to his resignation.

This chapter describes MacDowell's life after leaving Columbia University. These include teaching piano; his election as a founding member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and his contracting of a mysterious, debilitating illness which was later attributed to chronic bromide poisoning. MacDowell died on the evening of 23 January 1908, surrounded by his parents, his wife, Marian's sisters and nephew, and his caretakers. The death of Edward MacDowell touched off a flood of public accolades, accompanied by the very private mourning of his friends.

This chapter describes events following Edward and Marian MacDowell's return to the United States in 1888. They settled in one of the wealthiest sections of Boston where Edward began teaching piano to earn a living. The musicians of Boston were avidly curious about Edward, whose works had been published by Germany's most famous music publishers and played by the inimitable Teresa Carreño. The Boston papers also ran articles on his arrival ranging from brief notices to longer biographical articles. On 13 April 1889, MacDowell made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, playing his Second Piano Concerto. The Boston critics praised his performance, noting that the orchestra members were especially supportive of the pianist who had made such an impact during his first half year in Boston.

This chapter focuses on MacDowell's opposition to the American Composers' Concert movement. MacDowell returned home at a time when the American public's support for American composers was at an all-time high. In a flood of patriotic protectionism, concert organizers banded together with conductors and soloists to produce hundreds of concerts featuring exclusively American music. Although MacDowell's works were eagerly sought by publishers and performers, his natural reticence made him leery of throwing in his lot with other composers, particularly the American Composers' Concert movement. At the heart of his attitude was his firmly held belief in an international musical style. He believed that music had evolved beyond the particularism of national styles to a higher state of universal artistic composition that transcended simple nationalism.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's efforts to establish a career in Germany. In the years following his 11 July 1882 performance in Zürich, MacDowell worked incessantly to capitalize on this opportunity and establish himself as an artist. The events of these years and the tedious process of self-promotion show a great deal about his character and the development of his mature compositional style. MacDowell achieved his first genuine success with the publication of opp. 17 and 18 in 1883. These works have a charm that made them very popular in their day, and one of them, Hexentanz [Witches' Dance], op. 17, no. 2, remained among his best sellers throughout the twentieth century.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's close personal bond with George Templeton Strong Jr. Strong, the son of a prominent Manhattan lawyer, was four and one-half years older than MacDowell and had grown up in a life of privilege. Strong never followed his father's path into the law firm, choosing instead to work as an orchestral musician in New York before leaving to spend most of his life in Europe. MacDowell quickly came to rely on Strong not only as a friend and artistic confidant but also as something of an errand boy. One of the curious things about their relationship is that MacDowell asked Strong to do all sorts of menial tasks for him, to which the latter raised no objections.

This chapter focuses on the legacy of Edward MacDowell. MacDowell created a body of significant concert works that outlived him by generations. His two concertos remain the most important works in the genre by an American composer other than Gershwin. The four sonatas are rivaled in the American repertoire only by those of Ives, Copland, Griffes, and Barber. These pieces and his two orchestral suites were heard in concert halls and recording studios throughout the twentieth century. But he also left a large repertoire of timeless solo piano works accessible to amateurs. Even as the musical culture changed, MacDowell's music has continued to be performed and honored. Columbia University commemorated him on the thirtieth anniversary of his death in 1938 and again on the one-hundredth anniversary (or so they thought) of his birth in 1961.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's marriage to Marian Nevins on 21 July 1884. Two days after the wedding, the couple sailed to England for a brief honeymoon. They visited Exeter and Bath, and then traveled to London, where the highlight was attending performances of Shakespeare. This blissful time awakened Edward's creativity, and the recollections of Marian and the evidence of a sketchbook from the period allow us to re-create his creative process. In the winter of 1884/85 Edward devoted himself to Marian and to composition. The first large-scale orchestral work that he completed was Hamlet and Ophelia, op. 22.

In Boston, necessity forced MacDowell to rely on his piano skills to earn a living, and during the next several years he made his reputation as much by performing and teaching as by composing. This change of direction had a profound impact on his composition, as his intense engagement with the piano influenced not only the genres in which he composed but also the ways he wrote for the instrument. This chapter describes how MacDowell refined the pianism that would be his greatest legacy to American music. His student, T. P. Currier, described MacDowell's playing as unconventional. He played rapid passagework with breathtaking velocity, aiming for an impressionistic wash of sound rather than the pearly clarity then in vogue. He also used an immense dynamic range from almost inaudible pianissimos to fortissimos so loud that chords were harsh and percussive. The harshness of MacDowell's chord playing was frequently criticized, especially in the standard repertoire. But when he played his own works, these defects were minimized by passages that call for bell-like semi-detached chords and melodies.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's big break, when he had the opportunity to perform one of his own compositions before an audience of Germany's most influential connoisseurs of modern music in 1882. His brilliant performance on that occasion laid the foundation of his career in Germany and the United States. But his search for this break occupied the two years after his withdrawal from the Hoch Conservatory in and required all of his creativity in negotiating the complex and insular German music world.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's musical training in Germany. The piano teacher with whom MacDowell intended to study was Carl Heymann (1851–1922), considered one of the most gifted pianists of his generation. Heyman agreed to accept the Edward as a student when he took a new position as piano instructor at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1872. Like many German Conservatories, the Hoch Conservatory published Jahresberichte [annual reports] that list the students in attendance and provide information about the courses, public performances, and other events at the school. These show that MacDowell was actively involved in the life of the school. In addition to the required examinations at the end of each semester, he played an important role in several public concerts, indicating that he was one of the best student performers in those early years. His repertoire consisted almost entirely of recent works.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's first few years as head of the new music department at Columbia University. During his first year at Columbia, MacDowell was a one-man department, teaching all of the music courses and handling all the administrative duties without a secretary or any other teachers. In the second year, one of his students, Leonard B. McWhood, was hired to assist with grading and other duties. MacDowell was able to expand the offerings during his third and fourth years. The university promoted McWhood to the rank of tutor, taking over some of the basic theory and aural skills courses. In 1899/1900, the university hired the conductor Gustav Hinrichs to establish a university chorus and a university orchestra, while MacDowell added a composition seminar. By the fall of 1900, Columbia University offered eleven courses in music.

This chapter considers the price that came with MacDowell's newfound fame. MacDowell became the first American composer of art music to be well known and widely performed on both sides of the Atlantic. His publications were sold in large numbers around the world. He was regarded as an authority on contemporary music and an inspiration for American musicians. But MacDowell's new status came with a heavy load of correspondence. His administrative work at the university involved numerous memos and official letters to persons on and off campus. There was frequent correspondence with his publishers and professional colleagues regarding new editions, upcoming concerts, and other matters. As a young man in Germany, MacDowell gave away the rights to his early compositions in order to see them published. Rather than forget those early decisions and move on to enjoy the fruits of his fame, he became obsessed with settling the old scores with his German publishers. MacDowell's fame also made him an easy target for critics.

This chapter describes Edward MacDowell's career outside Columbia University. These include his acceptance of the position of the Mendelssohn Glee Club's new director in the fall of 1896. The club was an exclusive men's chorus consisting largely of Manhattan businessmen. Edward also continued teaching piano despite the protests of university officials. The administration did not want its new professor to sully his hands with such menial labor, but it is no surprise that MacDowell ignored their advice. For him, the practical and the theoretical could not be separated, and thus piano teaching continued to play an important part in his life after the move to New York. MacDowell also continued to compose music.

This chapter describes how Edward MacDowell dealt with the complicated and potentially treacherous politics of musical Boston. Despite the warm welcome extended by colleagues, his success would eventually alter the pecking order in this city of rich musical traditions. As the novelty of his presence wore off, it became obvious that among Edward's many talents was a lack of tact and diplomacy. For instance, MacDowell's main point of contact in Boston was conductor B. J. Lang, whose failure to send him students led to his resentment. Within a few months of his arrival, MacDowell began to lose respect for the older man and had the temerity to disagree with him publicly. MacDowell did not fare much better with the other Boston composers and he viewed any overtures at friendliness with suspicion.

This chapter focuses on events during the winter of 1892–93. A life-threatening illness forced Marian MacDowell to seek treatment in Philadelphia while Edward stayed in Boston. Most of his daily letters to her, which have been preserved in the Library of Congress, provided an unparalleled opportunity to understand the depth of his feelings for her, to follow the ups and downs of his developing career, and to observe the impact of his often-debilitating seasonal depression through a winter made darker by anxiety over Marian's health.

This chapter describes the fulfillment of Edward and Marian's dream to own a country home. In 1896 they purchased an eighty-acre farm in the small town of Peterborough, a few hours outside Boston. In an interview, Edward justified the importance of a summer retreat by citing that his compositional activities are mostly confined to the summer months and that he needed inspiration to compose. The first of the works composed at the Peterborough farm was a set of ten piano pieces titled Woodland Sketches, op. 51, written in the summer of 1896. The Peterborough property also became a welcome retreat as Edward settled into his work as head of Columbia University's new music department. He and Marian used their Peterborough home as an escape from the demands of his new job and their busy urban lifestyle in New York.

This chapter describes events following Edward MacDowell's arrival in France in 1876 to audition for the Paris Conservatory. He eventually earned admission to the most exclusive music school in the world, where he studied free of charge. He had made excellent progress and earned the respect and support of his teacher. But in September 1878, the Conservatory enacted sweeping policy changes, which included more stringent rules for underperforming students. The rules stated that a student who competed in the concours for three consecutive years without winning a prize would be expelled from the conservatory, as would a student who earned a prize but failed to improve his standing in the two subsequent years. Edward's best friend and duet partner from childhood, Chichi Castellanos, was included in the list; in solidarity with his friend, Edward withdrew from the conservatory.