The two following years,--from the summer of 1882 till the summer of
1884--were increasingly given over to composition, though MacDowell
continued his private teaching and made a few appearances in concert.
He continued to try his hand at orchestral writing, and in this
pursuit he was greatly favoured by the willingness of the conductors
of the _Cur-Orchesters_ at Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden, and elsewhere, to
"try over" in the rehearsal hour his experiments. His requests for
such a trial reading of his scores were seldom refused, and the
practical training in instrumentation which was afforded by the
experience he always regarded as invaluable. Much that he tested in
this manner was condemned as a result of the illuminating, if
chastening, revelations thus brought about; and almost all of his
orchestral writing which he afterward thought fit to publish received
the benefit of such practical tests.

The music which dates from this period comprises the three songs of
opus 11 ("Mein Liebchen,"[2] "Du liebst mich nicht," "Oben, wo
die Sterne glühen"); the two songs of op. 12 ("Nachtlied" and "Das
Rosenband"); the Prelude and Fugue (op. 13); the second piano suite
(op. 14)--begun in the days of his Darmstadt professorship; the
"Serenade" (op. 16); the two "Fantasiestücke" of op. 17:
"Erzählung" and the much-played "Hexentanz"; the "Barcarolle"
and "Humoreske" of op. 18; and the "Wald-Idyllen" (op. 19):
"Waldesstille," "Spiel der Nymphen," "Träumerei," "Dryadentanz."

[2] I give the German titles under which these compositions were
originally published.

In June, 1884, MacDowell returned to America, and on July 21, at