Edward MacDowell : an American master / Alan H. Levy.
| Author/creator | Levy, Alan Howard |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Lanham, MD : The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1998. |
| Description | xii, 269 pages : illustrations, music ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Boyhood, character, and early education -- From piano to composition: the early years in Europe -- Married, poor, and content: the German years -- Lessons, concerts, and compositions: settling in Boston -- The heyday of the Boston years: the thorny issues of nationalism -- A high-strung temperament -- Nirvana in New Hampshire -- "Oh if we'd never left Boston": triumph and tragedy at Columbia University -- "I have learned to be tolerant": Marian alone and the founding of the MacDowell Colony -- The great erasure. |
| Abstract | Edward MacDowell was one of the finest composers of nineteenth-century America. In his lifetime, MacDowell's fame was widespread throughout Europe and the United States; his music was praised by none other than Franz Liszt, Jules Massenet, and Edvard Grieg. While his fame was extensive, MacDowell's place in music began to fade after his untimely and tragic death in 1908, and his music and reputation has since suffered a certain neglect. The author's biography is the first full-length work on MacDowell and draws extensively on personal papers and letters, largely closed from public access until recently. He challenges the omission of MacDowell from most musical histories and returns the spotlight to this long-overlooked composer. He also covers MacDowell's early life and schooling in New York, his musical studies in France and Germany, and his emergence as a keyboard artist and composer. From there, the biography moves on to MacDowell's successful career in Boston and in Peterboro, New Hampshire. The author concludes with MacDowell's tenure as the first Professor of Music at Columbia University and his untimely decline and death. There is also discussion of Marian MacDowell's successful establishment of the MacDowell Colony for Artists, which continues to the present day. The author elegantly captures the story of this composer who enjoyed musical talent and relative popular success during his lifetime. He brings together a great deal of otherwise inaccessible information and material on a somewhat muted voice in American music history. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-259) and index. |
| LCCN | 98007958 |
| ISBN | 0810834634 (alk. paper) |