His humorous suite, "The Marionettes," very strongly suggests Jerome
K. Jerome's "Stageland," in which the villain is represented as an
individual who always wears a clean collar and smokes a cigarette. The
hero approaches the heroine from the rear and "breathes his attachment
down her back," and the poor heroine is pursued by the relentless
storm, while on the other side of the street the sun is shining.
MacDowell portrays the coquettish "Soubrette," the longing "Lover,"
the strong-charactered "Witch," the gay "Clown," the sinister
"Villain" and the simple, tender "Sweetheart," with a Prologue
indicating "sturdy good humor" and an Epilogue to be rendered
"musingly, with deep feeling." The suite is very attractive and in
sharp contrast to his romantic, heroic and lyric work.
Another potent factor in the formation of MacDowell's style of
composition was his love of nature. No one has put truer brooks,
birds, flowers, trees, meadows or sea into tone. Whenever he "loafed
and invited his soul," the tired, city-worn world reaped the benefit.
His lesser piano compositions may be, in a sense, considered in the
light of a diary.
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