Abstract

America's Foremost Composer

The article presents information on the book "The Boyhood of Edward MacDowell," by Abbie Farwell Brown. A good deal of the first half of the book, it must be confessed, is supplied also by fancy and embroidery, and it is not always clear to the reader whether Brown is reporting an episode verbatim as MacDowell told it to his wife, or whether she is reconstructing the scene and the conversation out of her own head. This perplexity is increased by the style of the book, the diluted and disposed-to-be-helpful manner used in some stories for children. There is no statement that Brown intended it for children; on the contrary, she says that the story of this boyhood "should have significance in helping to interpret the quality of the music of our first great American composer."