A Study On The "Stove Story" Of McDowell 's Piano Suite

Edward MacDowell (1860-1980) was a famous pianist, composer and educatorin late19thcentury in American. He established the American national musical genre,made great contribution to the early development of the American music, and laid thefoundation for musical creation of the latter musicians including Ives, Gershwin andCopland (famous musicians of American modern music). Therefore, he was describedas the “first musician who stood on the international stage in American history”.Edward MacDowell created many wonderful music works in his whole life, study ofwhich will strengthen the acquaintance and understanding of the early Americanprofessional musical creation.The piano suite Fireside Tales will be analyzed and studied from several anglesin this thesis in three chapters.Chapter1contains three sections, which mainlyfocused on the lifetime and musical creation of MacDowell. Chapter2also containsthree sections, and mainly includes the ontological analysis of the Fireside Tales. Inchapter3, performance skills of the piano suite Fireside Tales will be analyzed ineight views including rhythm, beat, velocity, dynamics, melody, touches, ornamentand pedal.The discussion of these three chapters indicates that the piano suite FiresideTales is worthwhile to be performed and analyzed. Fireside Tales contain severalcharacters including the national musical elements, European romanticism melody,and precise musical form and harmony structures. It is a vital representative work ofMacDowell’s piano works in his late ages, and is an important material to study thedevelopment of early American piano music.