Waterford, Connecticut, he was married to his former pupil, Miss
Marian Nevins--a union, which, for perfection of sympathy and
closeness of comradeship, was, during the quarter of a century for
which it was to endure, nothing less than ideal. A few days later
MacDowell and his bride sailed from New York for Europe, innocent of
any very definite plans for the immediate future. They visited Exeter
and Bath, and then went to London, where they found lodgings at No. 5,
Woburn Place. There MacDowell's interest in the outer world was
divided between the British Museum, where he found a particular
fascination in the Egyptian and Syrian antiquities, and the
Shakespearian performances of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. He was
captivated by their performance of "Much Ado About Nothing," and made
a sketch for a symphonic poem which was to be called "Beatrice and
Benedick"--a plan which he finally abandoned. Most of the material
which was to form the symphonic poem went ultimately to the making of
the scherzo of the second piano concerto, composed during the
following year.

Returning to Frankfort, MacDowell and his wife lived for a short time
in a pension in the Praunheimer Strasse, keeping very much to
themselves in two small rooms. Upon their return from a brief
excursion to Paris, they found less restricted quarters in the Hotel
du Nord. In September of this year MacDowell learned of an
advantageous position that had been vacated at the Würzburg
Conservatory, and, assisted by letters from Frau Raff, Marmontel (his
former instructor at the Paris Conservatory), and the violinist
Sauret, he sought the place. But again, as at Frankfort three years
before, his youth was in his disfavour, and he was courteously
rejected.