John Fielder Porte

“ This Dirge is indisputably the cry of a great soul, and there is little in music which expresses grief so effectively. The sense it gives of loneliness and sombreness has never been quite equalled by any other composer. The piece is not a funeral oration weighed down with pomp, but the spontaneous grief of elemental humanity. The scene is of a mother mourning for her son; its significance is of a world sorrow. The music would honour any composer, living or dead. ”

“ Without a thorough knowledge of music, including its history and development, and, above all, musical "sympathy," individual criticism is, of course, valueless; at the same time the acquirement of this knowledge and sympathy is not difficult, and I hope that we may yet have a public in America that shall be capable of forming its own ideas, and not be influenced by tradition, criticism, or fashion.
Every person with even the very smallest love and sympathy for art possesses ideas which are valuable to that art. From the tiniest seeds sometimes the greatest trees are grown. ”

“ We may find the significance of this in the fact that it is a prominent figure of the Dirge, No. 4 of the suite. The active figure is now heard again, deep and almost inaudible, softly ushering in the barbaric opening theme, now heard in the bass. The warriors appear to be returning as the music once more grows in volume. Wilder and wilder it grows—a moment's silence—only to begin again faster and faster. Still faster does it become until it is almost a scream, the conclusion coming in a magnificent series of reiterated chords thundered out with the full strength of the orchestra employed. ”

“ The Keltic Sonata is generally considered MacDowell's supreme achievement, the great culmination of his evolution toward musical expression of immense and rare power. The sonata is a work of great breadth and vitality, and has a sweep of line and noble beauty of expression that is only equalled in the supreme efforts of genius, such as Beethoven's Appassionata sonata for instance. It is a most superb poetical romance, full of the passion and heroic fervour of the Celtic strain in MacDowell's own nature. ”

“ MacDowell has caught the spirit of the days when the rude, but curiously interesting aborigines of America lived; of days that are now but treasured legends that still stir the hearts of the young in many lands. He conveyed a feeling of this atmosphere in his music with an unerring touch, the effect of which is heightened by the use of material derived from the native tunes of the North American Indians. The Indian Suite is undoubtedly one of the most noble and impressive works that MacDowell ever composed, containing in the Dirge movement one of his most striking utterances. ”

“ The music of this piece is transporting in its majestic nobility and magnificent, sweeping strength. It is one of the most superb of MacDowell's short pieces. From the deep and sonorous opening bars, through passionately mounting fury, to the sombre and mysterious close—in all of it we are confronted with the work of an unmistakably inspired master. ”

“ On the other hand, a serpent impresses us as something sinister. Trees, with their strange fight against all the laws of gravity, striving upward unceasingly, bring us something of hope and faith; the sight of them cheers us. A land without trees is depressing and gloomy.
In spite of the strange twistings of ultra modern music, a simple melody still embodies the same pathos for us that it did for our grandparents. ”

“ If it has not the significant expression of its greater successors, it has at least a strength and fervency that indicate a youthful genius of no common order. Its interest is not of mere historic value as an early example of MacDowell's work, for it can be performed to-day with success. It has a lasting white heat of inspiration and even in the light of the composer's greater works it still sounds remarkably brilliant and fresh. ”

“ As a tone poet MacDowell has none of the sensuous emotionalism that wins popularity in the drawing room and at the musical recitals of popular pianists. He is never sentimental and his strength and passion is always finely controlled, never feverish. His music is singularly free from the emotionalisms of sex, the love-impulse with him is always noble and restrained. In all his moods there is a human spirit and some definitely suggested content, the most notable purist exceptions being the two pianoforte concertos. ”

“ A DREAM COME TRUE Speaking of nationalism in music—and the remark holds true of nationalism in all the arts—Edward MacDowell once said: "Before a people can find a musical writer to echo its genius, it must first possess men who truly represent the people, that is to say, men who, being part of the people, love the country for itself, and put into their music what the nation has put into its life." ”

“ The outstanding reason for his preference for writing albums of short pieces (partly due, no doubt, to lack of time for more extended work) was that he loved to seize a passing impression or inspiration and to express it in music before it faded from his mind. Nearly all his small pieces are musical photographs of the fancies of an impressionable and sensitive imagination. ”

“ Toward the end, the music becomes very moving and subdued, dying away with careful and sensitive tone reduction. The impression left by this piece, and by the Fireside Tales as a whole, is that the composer was conscious of a heavy responsibility in his work; that he felt, as Elgar has explained, that "the creative artist suffers in creating, or in contemplating the unending influence of his creation ... for even the highest ecstacy of 'Making' is mixed with the consciousness of the sombre dignity of the eternity of the artist's responsibility." ”

“ 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. ”

“ This song has a sadness and tenderness which, together with its words, give it an irresistible appeal. The scene it suggests is that of an elderly couple, for whom life is drawing to a close, recalling the far-off days when their undying love for each other commenced. The expression of the music is very human and free from any commonplace sentiment. ”

“ To hear and enjoy music seems sufficient to many persons, and an investigation as to the causes of this enjoyment seems to them superfluous. And yet, unless the public comes into closer touch with the tone poet than the objective state which accepts with the ears what is intended for the spirit, which hears the sounds and is deaf to their import, unless the public can separate the physical pleasure of music from its ideal significance, our art, in my opinion, cannot stand on a sound basis. ”

“ Probably his greatest achievement was his remarkable, unerring ability to create atmospheres of widely varied kinds in his music, and in this respect there is no composer quite his equal. The soft beauty, grandeur, vastness and might of Nature; the joys and sorrows of Humanity; the romance of History and imaginative Legend ”

“ It is curious that MacDowell's sonatas are infrequently performed, for they bring the resources of the modern pianoforte into full and sonorous play, sweeping the whole of the keyboard with their stirring expressions. It is possible that as they are not in general demand, the average virtuoso does not consider their technical difficulties worth conquering. Nay, it is even doubtful whether the pianist's mind could always rise to the heights of fervent poetry and imagination whither MacDowell was often carried and the memories of which are embodied in his finest music. ”

“ The poetry is so unmistakably fresh and individual, and the atmosphere so vividly suggested, that the ability of the composer to condense his material into such small compass is remarkable to even the most casual observer. Far from shewing weakness, the small form of MacDowell's compositions is a proof of his strength, for few other composers have been able to suggest such big scenes, often of far-reaching and wide significance, on such small canvasses as those on which he painted his tone poems. ”

“ These songs, although not absolutely of the composer's best, have a charm, tenderness of feeling and beauty of expression that is often irresistible. They are essentially the love songs of a romantic, but refined and gifted poet. As a whole they are singularly free from sexual sensuousness, which is so often a trait in songs of their type. There is an idealism, wonderfully fresh and pure, about them, that is antagonistic to the composer's own assertion that verse often becomes doggerel when harnessed to music in song form. ”

“ Faster and faster, but still subdued, grows the music, the striving figure of the Legend being prominent. A broadening out then comes and with it a magnificent, raw strength, in which is heard the romantic call that opens the whole work in the introduction to the first movement. ”

“ He had a healthy dislike of fashionable "at-homes" and dinner parties where music is "adored" and "loved" by those who may have a good knowledge of social matters, but who have little or no ability to comprehend the deeper significance and power of the art. In fact one suspects that they adopt high-class music chiefly in an attempt to indicate an intellectual status they do not possess. For sincere and able criticism, however, MacDowell always had respect and interest, and he was always touched by what he thought was honest praise and admiration. ”

“ His compositions are "modern" in outlook, but remarkably free in spirit and never savour of the type of modernism that is little more than gilded pedanticism.
Mention must be made of MacDowell as a pianist. He was capable of playing with remarkable swiftness of finger action, and his tone production ranged from the most delicate refinement to overwhelming floods of orchestral-like strength. In playing his larger works, he loved to make his music sweep in great waves, and to introduce the most wonderful contrasts and varieties of tone colour. ”

“ The daily routine of life in the Colony is somewhat as follows: After breakfast there is a quick scattering of the residents as each one hurries off to his studio. It may be recalled here what an important place MacDowell's Log Cabin plays in this scheme, and how the idea has been to reproduce for as many people as might be in the Colony conditions similar to those MacDowell enjoyed—a comfortable home and an isolated workshop. Each one of the fifteen studios is out of sound and sight of the others. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The atmosphere of the great rolling plains, mighty forests, and vast and lonely retreats is unerringly created. The notes of wildness and an indescribably touching spirit of far away romance are sounded, telling of a forgotten and dying elemental race. In the Suite the lodges of the Red men rise again before our eyes ”

“ The Norse sonata is separated by a wide gulf of progress from its predecessor, the Sonata Eroica, being greater in outlook, freer in form and altogether more strongly determined and personal in character. It has a more mature strength, nobleness and dignity, together with an inspiring and magnificent beauty and splendour of tone power. The subject of the work was one that MacDowell loved to dwell upon—the stirring tales of love and mighty heroism told in the ancient Norse sagas. ”

“ This opens with a romantic horn-call of the plains that is significant of the whole Suite:—
[Music.]
It is heard again at the end of the last movement. Indescribable is the effect of the paused note, the silence, and then the far away answer. The call is elaborated with rich effect, but the atmosphere of vastness and loneliness is preserved. The suggestiveness of this introduction is wonderfully vivid, for in a moment we are transported from the civilisation of to-day to the wildness and romance of the old days on the plains of the great West. ”

“ This is the shortest piece of the set, and is only thirty bars long. It is cramped into one page in the current edition of the sketches. The melody is tender, undulating and expressive and is supported by full but always clear chords, with typical modulations. The broadness of the chord writing, together with the general tone of the piece as a whole, seems to call for orchestral colouring and foreshadows MacDowell's most advanced period. As a whole, it is contemplative, expressing the wistfulness of one who stands at a quiet place, musing on bygone meetings there. ”

“ Lycius meets her in the wood, is smitten with love for her and goes with her to her enchanted palace, where the wedding is celebrated with great splendour. But suddenly Apollonius the magician appears; he reveals the magic. Lamia again assumes the form of a serpent, the enchanted palace vanishes, and Lycius is found lifeless.
The music commences with a sinister theme, Lento misterioso, con tristezza, given out by bassoon and celli, accompanied by a soft drum roll. This motive is the main one of the work, and may be regarded as that of Lamia. ”

“ The virtuoso aspect of the Keltic sonata, however, is always lost in the magnificent spirit of the music. All MacDowell's finest works require not mechanical technique only, but deep intellectual and poetical thought to bring out their finest qualities.
1. From the first bars the majesty of the work becomes apparent. The first movement as a whole is full of the fire of Celtic inspiration, tinged with a wild and piercing sorrow. ”

“ The Colony owes a great debt to the untiring enthusiasm and energy of Mrs. MacDowell, who also finds time to give frequent recitals in various American cities of her late husband's music. In the opinion of many who know of her work, she is only comparable to Madame Schumann, in her practical devotion to her great husband's music and to the realisation of his ideals. ”

“ The Sea Pieces contain some of the finest of MacDowell's suggestive tone poetry. They are chiefly remarkable for their exhibiting the composer's ability to suggest a big scene, or a dramatic or emotional content of far-reaching significance, in an incredibly small space. The power and breadth of some of the pieces is great, while their beauty of tone, displaying the powers of the pianoforte from pppp to fff, is rich and full in its harmonic construction. ”

“ This suite, although reminiscent of the nineteenth century German romanticism amongst which MacDowell was educated, has an atmosphere of its own that at once distinguishes it as an example of the highly sensitive and suggestive tone poetry peculiar to its composer. The work is very skilfully written and is remarkable for its freshness and buoyancy of spirit. The scoring is exquisite and always illustrative of the poetical subjects of the suite. ”