England is an opinion that increasingly forces itself on all who
study and become closely acquainted with his best work. He is
generally admitted to be great in small, lyrical forms, but it is
insufficient to regard him merely as a miniaturist. The form of
the well-known _Sea Pieces_ (_Op_. 55) for pianoforte is small,
for example, and yet the material is big and grand enough for
symphonic work. The equally well-known _Woodland Sketches, Op.
51_, contain pieces of charming and delicate conception, as well
as broader writing, and can hardly be considered as the products
of a restricted inspiration. The poetry is so unmistakably fresh
and individual, and the atmosphere so vividly suggested, that the
ability of the composer to condense his material into such small
compass is remarkable to even the most casual observer. Far from
shewing weakness, the small form of MacDowell's compositions is a
proof of his strength, for few other composers have been able to
suggest such big scenes, often of far-reaching and wide
significance, on such small canvasses as those on which he
painted his tone poems.

The outstanding reason for his preference for writing albums of
short pieces (partly due, no doubt, to lack of time for more
extended work) was that he loved to seize a passing impression or
inspiration and to express it in music before it faded from his
mind. Nearly all his small pieces are musical photographs of the
fancies of an impressionable and sensitive imagination.

The criticism sometimes heard that he was only good in small
forms is, however, based on a fallacy due to an imperfect
acquaintance with his work and is completely shattered by the
indisputable greatness of his two concertos, of his four