_For Sweet Love's Sake_. (_Simply, with feeling_.) This song is not a very successful alliance of words and music. The former are of tender content, while the latter is after the style of a pleasant lullaby. The music does not in the least reflect the spirit of the words.
_O Lovely Rose_. (_Slowly, with great simplicity_.) This is the pure lyric gem of the _Six Love Songs_ by MacDowell. It is very short, but has a rare charm and fragrance.
_I Ask But This_. (_Moderately fast, almost banteringly_.) There is an attractive piquancy and lightness about this song that makes it distinct from its companions. It suggests light-hearted love, and its demure ending, as the lovers part, was a happy thought on the part of the composer.
OPUS 41. TWO PART-SONGS, FOR MALE CHORUS.
_Composed_, 1890. _First Published_, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
These two part-songs are effectively written and sharply contrasted. Their contrast furnishes good reason why both should be sung in the order given, and not robbed of their natural companionship.
OPUS 42. FIRST SUITE, IN A MINOR, FOR FULL ORCHESTRA.
_Composed, about_ 1890-91. _First Performed, September,_ 1891, _at the Worcester, U.S.A., Musical Festival. First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Movements First Published_, 1891. _Third Movement First Published_, 1893 (Complete--Arthur P. Schmidt).
This suite, although reminiscent of the nineteenth century German romanticism amongst which MacDowell was educated, has an atmosphere of its own that at once distinguishes it as an example of the highly sensitive and suggestive tone poetry peculiar to its composer. The work is very skilfully written and is remarkable for its freshness and buoyancy of spirit. The scoring is exquisite and always illustrative of the poetical subjects of the suite. Each of the pieces has in its title a suggestion of a scene of Nature, the first and last having also the fanciful and imaginative atmosphere of folk-lore; this provided MacDowell with a task in tone painting such as he loved. In _In a Haunted Forest_ and _Forest Spirits_ we have examples of the romantic and fanciful sort of tone poetry characteristic of the composer. In the _Summer Idyl_, in the fine, mellow beauty of _In October_ and in the lovely _Song of the Shepherdess_ we have MacDowell composing in his beloved Nature style, although not in a manner quite comparable with the pianoforte pieces, _Woodland Sketches, Op. 51_, and _New England Idyls, Op. 62_. As a whole, the _First Suite for Orchestra_ is not the finest of MacDowell's orchestral works up to this stage, but it stands alone in the style of its poetic subject matter. It has not the same bearing as _Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22_, Lancelot and Elaine, Op. 25_, _Lamia, Op. 29_, or _The Saracens and the Lovely Alda, Op. 30_, which all have an historical or romantic outlook, but it possesses instead the wonderful spirit of mysterious Nature. Even the noble _Second (Indian) Suite for Orchestra_, the grandest of MacDowell's orchestral works, cannot alter the position of this first suite, which has an interest entirely its own. In performance the work is notable for its fresh and finely-coloured material, and makes a fine item in a concert because of its brilliancy and the charmingly interesting suggestions of its poetic sub-titles.