MacDowell

Bomberger, E. Douglas

doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199899296.001.0001

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…26 Bomberger, despite his cautious attitude toward descriptive titles, deemed the Eroica "the most overtly programmatic of MacDowell's abstract works," but still privileged its "masterly manipulation of musical materials." 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. Even if they concede the sonatas are programmatic, they typically limit or qualify such evaluations.…”

Section: Macdowell's Fourfold Program For the Eroicamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…culminate in two fff tonic chords. 65 Renowned pianists, some within MacDowell's Lisztian circle, have purportedly likened Chopin's scales to wind blowing over the grave of the victim who is mourned in the funeral march of op. 35.…”

Section: A New Inscription and A New Program For The First Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All the more unexpected, then, is the disruptive encroachment of the first movement's principal theme (mm. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and its slow introduction's initial phrase (mm. [33][34][35][36] at the trio's midpoint, where their insertion seems abrupt compared to the draft's seamless connection between the prolonged allusion to storm music and the cyclical return of the first movement's slow introduction.…”

Section: New Evidence For Reassessing the Scherzo's Programmentioning

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: Macdowell's Fourfold Program For the Eroicamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A New Inscription and A New Program For The First Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%