"... Since the foundation of the General Society of German
Musicians, the definitive making up of the programs is entrusted
to me, and I shall be very glad to recommend the execution of
your work.

"Will you be good enough to give to your master, my old friend,
J. Raff, the assurance of my highest esteem and admiration.

"F. LISZT.

"Budapest. April 13, 1882."

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM LISZT TO MACDOWELL
(SEE PAGE 18)]

The nineteenth annual convention of the _Allgemeiner Deutscher
Musik-Verein_ was held that year at Zürich, from the 9th to the 12th
of July; and at the fifth concert of the series, on July 11, MacDowell
played his first piano suite. Both the music and his performance of it
were praised. A contemporaneous account speaks of the composer as "an
earnest and modest musician, free from all mannerisms," who "carried
his modesty so far that he played with his notes before him, though he
cannot have felt any particular necessity for having them there." He
"was recalled enthusiastically, and with many bravos, and may be proud
of the success he has achieved." Until then, as MacDowell confessed,
with engaging candour, to Mr. Henry T. Finck, he "had never waked up
to the idea" that his music could be worth actual study or memorising.
"I would not have changed a note in one of them for untold gold, and
_inside_ I had the greatest love for them; but the idea that any one