Second Pianoforte Concerto, Op. 23_, having been
composed only about two or three years previously and separated
from it in order of opus number merely by a group of unimportant
piano pieces comprising _Op. 24_. _Lancelot and Elaine_ has its
poetical basis in the legends of King Arthur's days, which
MacDowell loved to read about and idealize. The work as a whole
follows Tennyson's poem and is essentially programme music. It is
impressively scored, rich and sonorous in harmonic treatment and
full of strikingly vivid and expressive poetical feeling. The
brilliance of the tournament; the loveliness of Elaine; the
nobleness of Lancelot; the scene of the maiden's funeral barge
floating down the river, and the knight's ensuing grief--all are
graphically illustrated in MacDowell's tone poem. The work
embraces moods and colours from brilliant exhilaration to
sombreness and poignant emotion. The climaxes are stirring and
coherent, and in many places the music really attains to a
considerable amount of dramatic power, contrasted by passages of
infinitely expressive tenderness. The whole thing was evidently
composed in a state of fervent inspiration and the feeling of
Teutonic influence, which was still over MacDowell at that time,
is forgotten in the power and beauty of his tone poetry, already
becoming individual and distinct from that of other composers.

OPUS 26. FROM AN OLD GARDEN, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE.

_Composed, Wiesbaden_, 1887. _First Published_, 1887 (G.
Schirmer).

1. _The Pansy._

2. _The Myrtle._

3. _The Clover._

4. _The Yellow Daisy._

5. _The Bluebell._

6. _The Mignonette._

These songs are purely lyrical and are quite delightful examples
of MacDowell's work in this form, which he was to afterwards
uphold as a beautiful medium for song writing. They are not quite
of his very best output, but make charming solo numbers and are
free from vocal emotionalism. Many flower songs of other
composers are harnessed to highly emotional subjects and tend to
become love-songs, MacDowell's songs are a welcome relief in
their purely lyrical outlook. It will be noticed that the titles
of the songs in this group are all of the simple type of flowers
such as he loved, the gaudy, heavy and carefully cultivated
blossoms being conspicuous by their absence. It will serve no
purpose here to suggest which of the songs is the best, for each
has its own particular charm and it is more a matter of taste