Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines (Opal Wheeler)

Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines

At last he walked slowly to the piano and everyone leaned forward to look at the tall, handsome figure with black hair and serious blue eyes. When all was quiet, Edward began to play. Strong, ringing chords came from the piano and sounded to the far corners of the hall like a great orchestra. Then came light, swiftly running passages that grew louder and louder until the music swept over the keys with such power that the people sat spellbound.

Here was a great artist, indeed! A storm of applause burst forth when he had finished playing, and MacDowell was called to the stage again and again until he played his own compositions. When finished, there were cries of “Bravo! MacDowell!” Here is his story, told by distinguished author-musicians Opal Wheeler, in an appealing and lively biography of America’s beloved composer. Young people and adults alike find all the volumes in the Great Composer’s Series fascinating.

The story is told of MacDowell’s Quaker beginnings, his irrepressible interest in music, his youthful triumphs abroad, including playing at the famed Zurich Festival, and his marriage to Marian Nevins – all these and more are some of the delightful stories in this rich career of the great American composer. Also tells of the launching of the colony in Peterboro, New Hampshire, which bears his name.

In the Great Composers Series, Opal Wheeler also wrote:

• Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff
• Ludwig Beethoven, and the Chiming Tower Bells
• The Young Brahms
• Mozart, the Wonder Boy
• Handel at the Court of Kings
• Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia
• Joseph Haydn, the Merry Little Peasant
• Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland (Early Years)
• Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland (Later Years)
• Edward MacDowell and his Cabin in the Pines
• Stephen Foster and his Little Dog Tray
• Paganini: Master of Strings
• The Story of Peter Tchaikovsky
• Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet
• Adventures of Richard Wagner