MacDowell - "A Haunted House"

"A Haunted House" from Fireside Tales Op. 61 (1902)

Edward MacDowell (1861-1908) was born in America, but his musical education was formed abroad. He studied piano at the Paris Conservatory where he was a classmate of Debussy. MacDowell later moved to Germany to study piano and composition and met some of the star European composers of the day, including Liszt. Through Liszt, MacDowell met Joachim Raff and became his pupil. In 1888, MacDowell returned to America and concertized as a pianist, which led to his being recognized as one of the great emerging American musicians. His status as an American composer also rose dramatically after he published numerous orchestral and piano works.

When a teaching vacancy opened at the new music department of Columbia University in 1896, MacDowell was offered the post, which he promptly accepted. He became the first professor of music at Columbia and taught there for a number of years. In the last four years of his life, MacDowell suffered from a brain disease and his disintegrating health led to his death in 1908. By the time of his death, MacDowell had been applauded by American critics and audiences as a gifted piano virtuoso and one of America's greatest composers.

MacDowell's output is hardly known today, although many piano students are intimately familiar with his sentimental piano piece entitled "To a Wild Rose." However, during his lifetime in America, MacDowell's suites for orchestra and piano sonatas were relatively popular, the latter considered the greatest yet composed by an American.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• edward
• macdowell
• liszt
• brahms

[TheMikester307]

Fun! (Spooky fun from EAM!) I've loved his work for years. My house is supposed to be haunted but all I hear at night is the stool running...

[Hexameron]

I've some experience with hauntings and noticed that paranormal activity is prevalent during the day; not concentrated at "night" as most of these reality ghost hunter shows suggest.

[Shores1982]

MacDowell didn't have any children. So....

[ymerej2100]

Im proud of my great great grandfather.

[gerardbedecarter]

Thanks for uploading this!

[Aul1kki]

Too bad the mood there was at the start wasn't with the piece all the time. For me this is a bit of that and bit of this.

[AndrewFinch1]

I was so scared of this music, I turned it off after a minute and ten seconds.

[johnnynoirman]

Truly inspiring!...Fireside Tales Op. 61 (1902). Great AMERICAN composer!

[everythingistken1291]

It's true that he was a romantic composer but because I am American and he was American I like to think of him as American, lol.

[NGS712]

Thanks. :)