MacDowell the Pianist

Bomberger, E. Douglas

doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199899296.003.0011

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“…any programmatic connotations are evocative rather than explicitly descriptive." 27 Thus, although commentators have proffered modestly varied opinions when assessing programmaticism in MacDowell's works in general and in his sonatas in particular, they have remained largely disinclined toward programmatic interpretations. Gilbert Chase considered the sonatas "the most characteristic expression of [MacDowell's] late Romantic aesthetics, including programmatic content."…”

Section: Bertagnollimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Edward MacDowell's Original Program for theSonata Eroica

Bertagnolli¹

2015

J Soc American Mus

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Manuscript sources for Edward MacDowell's Sonata Eroica (1895) divulge a radically different, notably more sinister program than the commentary that the composer imparted to Lawrence Gilman, his first biographer. Gilman's widely promulgated account, merely comprising four character sketches based on Tennyson's Arthurian epic, Idylls of the King, maintains that the score's movements respectively depict the coming of Arthur, Doré's engraving of a knight surrounded by elves, MacDowell's idea of Guinevere, and the passing of Arthur. Inscriptions in a continuity draft preserved at the Library of Congress, however, reveal that the first movement was initially conceived as an independent ballade (an intrinsically programmatic genre) and was originally inspired by Tennyson's portrayal of Vivien seducing Merlin. Another inscription discloses that MacDowell envisioned the third movement as Lancelot's adulterous serenade to Guinevere. Additional manuscript variants and close correlations between the score's vibrant musical topics and Tennyson's literary contexts demonstrate that the entire sonata, including the elfin scherzo and war-like finale, embodies a tale of seduction and its dire consequences.Although the Eroica's vivid, newly discovered program remains compatible with MacDowell's professed aesthetics, he suppressed the inscriptions. Speculative reasons for his doing so include formal considerations, critical opinions on programmaticism, and his attitudes toward sex.

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Section: Bertagnollimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and its slow introduction's initial phrase (mm. However, the theme's disparate melodic contour and quirky hemiola dispel impressions of a genuine resemblance.…”

Section: Bertagnollimentioning

confidence: 99%

Edward MacDowell's Original Program for theSonata Eroica

Bertagnolli¹

2015

J Soc American Mus

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MacDowell the Pianist

Cited by 1 publication

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Edward MacDowell's Original Program for theSonata Eroica

Edward MacDowell's Original Program for theSonata Eroica

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