4. The final movement, _Allegro eroico_, opens with a bold, heroic theme in spread chords, followed by a quieter subject. The music goes triumphantly on with increasing brilliance, complexity and heroic ardour. At length a great final version of the heroic theme is heard, _Maestoso_, and soon we come to the dramatic moment of the whole sonata. At the very height of exaltation we are overwhelmed by a shattering descent of double octaves, _precipitate_. The heroism and self-confident ardour so carefully built up are swept away and the significant strains of the introduction to the work are heard, now augmented in time value. The music bursts into fury and the sonata ends with immensely powerful and ringing chords, but it is the shout of tragedy and not of victory. Thus closes a work that may well stand to-day as a musical representation of the composer's own life story. The sonata was first played in London on February 25th, 1902, by Lucie Mawson.
OPUS 46. TWELVE VIRTUOSO STUDIES, FOR PIANOFORTE.
_Composed_, 1893-94. _First Published_, 1894 (Breitkopf & Härtel).
These studies, while indicated by the composer as requiring advanced technique for performance, are full of poetical thought and tonal beauty that make them worthy of study. Many of them possess that Nature tone painting, that mystic, subtle romanticism of whispering tree-tops and elfin glades, that freshness and open air spirit which distinguish MacDowell's later short pieces.
_Novelette_ is an attractive study and full of the composer's own individual spirit. It is considered to be one of the best of the set.
_Moto Perpetuo_ is cleverly written and musical.
_Wild Chase_ is one of those exhilarating, imaginative pieces so characteristic of MacDowell. It is full of outdoor poetry and suggestive of a wild and glorious ride over the great American prairies, or of a dream gallop full of breathless fancy.
_Improvisation_ exhibits the composer's finer poetry and mastery of his art.
_Elfin Dance_ is suggestive and imaginative.
_Valse Triste_ is expressive and interesting, although not one of the most distinguished of the set.
_Burlesque_ is a musical number, bright in spirit and free from commonplace.
_Bluette_ is a beautiful piece of tone painting.