In 1885 MacDowell applied for a professorship at the English
Royal Academy of Music, but Lady Macfarren, wife of the
Principal, was instrumental in securing his rejection on account
of his youth, nationality and friendship with Liszt, who, in
English Victorian academic eyes, was too "modern."

In 1887 MacDowell and his wife, they having returned to Germany,
bought a little cottage in the woods some distance from
Wiesbaden. They were very friendly with Templeton Strong, another
American composer, some of whose works have been played at the
Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts in London.

In September, 1888, the MacDowells sold their German cottage and
returned to their native country, electing to make their home in
Boston, Mass.

MacDowell found that his European reputation and his music had
preceded him to America, and he was well received on the occasion
of his first concert in his native country. Most notable were his
successes when he played his _Second Pianoforte Concerto, in D
minor_ (_Op_. 23), at important orchestral concerts in New York
and Boston.

In 1889 MacDowell played his D minor concerto in Paris, where
more than twelve years before he had been a student, and it was
after his return from this visit to France that his fame as a
pianist and composer began to spread freely in America. In 1890
his _Second Symphonic Poem, Lancelot and Elaine_ (_Op_. 25), was
played under Nikisch at Boston.