Edward MacDowell (1860 – 1908) was supported by his Mother and won an international scholarship to study in Europe. Accompanied by her, he left the United States to study in Paris at age 17.
He remained in Europe, composing and teaching for eleven years. There, he had a reported association with Liszt, who heard Edward and may have provided guidance and some sponsorship.
In 1884, MacDowell married an American student of his (Marian Griswold Nevins) while still teaching in Frankfurt. He returned to the States in 1888 and became quite popular and in much in demand as a concert pianist.
MacDowell was held in such esteem that he was commissioned to teach music at Columbia University, which hitherto had no music studies, and he founded the music-studies program there. Unfortunately, his tenure was marred by accusations against him that caused him to resign. In the aftermath his health, both mental and physical, suffered and he was struck by a horse-drawn cab in 1904. He never recovered. His wife proved to be a more than capable partner and eventually continued management of their foundation after he was no long able to do so because of his health.
Mrs. Katherine Jones first taught me this piece. It is likely that I learned it to play for the National Federation of Music Clubs yearly festival competition, probably around my ninth-grade year.
I later received coaching on this piece in August, 1966 or 1967 from my Cedar Lake, IN music-camp piano instructor, Ms. Dorothy Spaulding.
Finally, I played this piece again sometime around 1971 when I accompanied two choral organizations at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). For a time, it was customary that I played an interlude during costume changes in our UAH choral concerts and performances. This was one of the pieces I played to keep the natives from becoming restless.
A Polonaise has a characteristic “dotted” rhythm and is usually in a triple meter. This particular Polonaise is in 3/4 meter. Until I was researching to write this post, it had never occurred to me that the name, “Polonaise” has an association with Poland. It does, and is one of the traditional/national dances of Poland.
There are eleven additional pieces in MacDowell’s Op. 46 suite of “virtuoso” studies. The Polonaise is the last of the pieces and is the only one of the twelve with which I ever became familiar. It is probably a good thing that I never heard the term “virtuoso” when I was learning it — or, it might have slowed my learning, or not…
Here is an audio-only recording of the Polonaise.
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