Edward MacDowell: The Architect of American Romantic Music and Its Essays

Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) was an American composer and pianist. He studied in Paris and Germany, wrote piano pieces such as To a Wild Rose and two piano concertos, and in 1896 became the first professor of music at Columbia University in New York. In his later years he spent summers in New Hampshire, a place that is now linked with the artists' colony that bears his name.

Critical and Historical Essays, published after his death, collects the lectures he gave at Columbia. They ask what music is, where it came from, and how it relates to the other arts. Like Richard Wagner, MacDowell dreamed of a union of the arts, and like Claude Debussy he was a composer who thought about the imagery of sound.

This collection contains 14 sentences from the public-domain text on Project Gutenberg. They are arranged by theme and quoted exactly as printed. They come from lectures, so many of them are generalisations offered in the course of a longer argument.

14 Quotes from Edward MacDowell

Rhythm, Melody, and the Mind

“Rhythm denotes a thought; it is the expression of a purpose.”

MacDowell begins with rhythm and links it to the mind. A beat, in his view, is not just a pulse but a sign of intention. The sentence is short and sure, and it sets up the contrast he draws next between the intellectual and the emotional sides of music.

“There is will behind it; its vital part is intention, power; it is an act.”

He continues the thought, adding the idea of will. Rhythm is something done, not merely felt. The string of nouns gives the sentence a strong forward push, in a way that fits the subject, and it shows his taste for firm statements in a lecture hall.

“Melody, on the other hand, is an almost unconscious expression of the senses; it translates feeling into sound.”

Here he sets melody against rhythm. Melody, he says, comes from the senses and from feeling, often without much thought. Not everyone would divide music so neatly, and the neatness is part of the lecturer's style, but the contrast is memorable and gives students something to test.

“Add to this rhythm, and the very height of expression is reached; for by it the intellect will dominate the sensuous.”

In MacDowell's scheme, great music needs both elements. Rhythm brings the mind to the sensuous charm of melody and so completes it. The sentence shows what he valued in composers: a union of discipline and feeling, with discipline in charge.

“In anger we raise the voice; in sadness we lower it.”

A simple observation on the link between speech and music. The rise and fall of the voice carries feeling before words are understood, and he suggests that music grew from this. The balanced sentence is easy to remember and shows the clarity of a good teacher.

Nature, Fear, and the Imagination

“Love was human, all the other emotions were human; fear alone was indefinable.”

MacDowell is discussing the early human response to the world. Familiar feelings could be understood, he says, but fear before the unknown could not. The semicolons give the sentence a sense of reasoning aloud, and the closing word “indefinable” carries the weight.

“Mankind lives in isolation, and Nature is a thing for him to conquer.”

A statement of the attitude that, in his view, marked one stage of history. The human being stands apart from Nature and tries to master it. It is a point of view he examines rather than endorses, and the sentence helps to explain the contrast he draws with older and later attitudes.

“Nature is that which passively lives while man actively wills.”

MacDowell's contrast is between a world that simply exists and a mind that chooses. The sentence is compact, and it connects with his earlier remarks on rhythm as an act of will. It shows the philosophical bent of his lectures.

“For what the intellect cannot explain the imagination magnifies.”

Where reason stops, he suggests, imagination takes over and enlarges the unknown. The line explains how myths and fears grow. It is also a fair description of how art can start where explanation ends, and it is one of the most quotable sentences in the book.

Forms, Dance, and the Arts Together

“In our modern days, we too often, Procrustes-like, make our ideas to fit the forms.”

The reference is to Procrustes, the figure in Greek legend who fitted travellers to his bed by stretching them or cutting them down. MacDowell warns that composers may bend their ideas to suit established forms. It is a good warning for any art in which tradition is strong.

“For what is the symphony, sonata, etc., but a remnant of the dance form?”

He traces the great instrumental forms back to dance. The suite, the sonata, and the symphony grew, he says, from the patterns of steps. Historians would add much more, but the question draws attention to the bodily roots of music and to the way old forms carry old habits.

“The weaving together of these elements into one art-fabric has been the ideal of all poets from Homer to Wagner.”

MacDowell names a long tradition of artists who wished to combine poetry, music, and drama. He places Richard Wagner at the end of that line. The compound word “art-fabric” is his own, and it conveys his picture of the arts woven together as one cloth.

“Our tall buildings generally point to utilitarianism and the almighty dollar.”

A remark about American cities of his day. Skyscrapers, he says, suggest money and use rather than beauty. The sentence is blunt, and it shows that his lectures were not limited to music. He was willing to speak about the visible culture around him.

“We build but few great cathedrals now.”

A short and wistful sentence. In earlier ages, he suggests, communities united to build great sacred buildings, and the modern world builds less in that spirit. It is a compact way of asking what a society values, and it fits his larger theme of the arts and their place in common life.

Conclusion

MacDowell's lectures show a composer who thought hard about his own art. He ties rhythm to will and melody to feeling, traces musical forms back to dance, and looks for a union of the arts. Some of his generalisations are broad, but they come from a working musician who wanted his students to ask large questions.

He died in 1908, only a few years after leaving Columbia. His piano music is still played, and his name lives on in the artists' colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. These fourteen sentences give a taste of the lecturer and are a good companion to his music.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Edward MacDowell?

Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) was an American composer and pianist, and the first professor of music at Columbia University in New York. He is known for piano works such as To a Wild Rose.

What are the Critical and Historical Essays?

It is a posthumous collection of the lectures that MacDowell gave at Columbia University. They discuss rhythm, melody, the history of music, and its relation to the other arts.

What is the MacDowell Colony?

It is an artists' colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, that bears his name. It offers working space to writers, composers, and artists.

Which text is quoted here?

The quotations come from Critical and Historical Essays in the public-domain edition on Project Gutenberg. They are given as printed.

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• Richard Wagner: The Titan of Total Art and Operatic Revolution
• Claude Debussy: The Revolutionary Painter of Sound
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