America Piano Concerto Analysis

Edward Alexander MacDowell (1861-1908) was a pianist and composer. He was among the first American composers to receive an international reputation, and by the late 19th century he was considered the greatest composer of the United States. On December 18, 1861, MacDowell was born into an upper-middle-class family in New York City. During his childhood he showed great potential as a musician and began piano lessons at eight years old. When he was fifteen he was taken by his mother to go study in Paris. He was a pupil of Antoine François Marmontel. In 1877 the Paris Conservatory awarded him a scholarship. However, after two years his interest in the conservatory faded and he left for Germany. MacDowell was a student at the Stuttgart Conservatory for a while, and then went off to the Frankfurt Conservatory where he studied piano and composition under Karl Heymann and Joachim Raff, respectively. In 1880 MacDowell had devoted himself mainly to …show more content…
They are among the most frequently performed American works. In regards of style, MacDowell was very similar to the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Despite the size difference, his smaller piano works were usually far more superior than his large orchestral works. MacDowell has written two piano concertos, one in the year 1884 and one in 1890. The Second Concerto has managed to keep a steady popularity, however neither of them display the full potential of his ability like his other works do. He wrote four sonatas: the Tragica, the Eroica, the Norse, and the Keltic. It wasn't until the Twelve Virtuoso Studies for piano, written in 1894, did MacDowell display his full competence as a composer. To a Wild Rose and To a Water Lily were his most famous pieces from Woodland Sketches, written in 1896. His work the Sea Pieces, written 1898, fully demonstrates the height of his lyric and dramatic