Composition now became more and more the dominating feature in the development of MacDowell's musical genius, although he was still obliged to teach for his living.
He was fortunate in being able to persuade local conductors to try over his orchestral works, a thing that was practically impossible in his own country, as he afterwards found. In June, 1884, he returned to the United States, and in the following month (July 21st) he married his former pianoforte pupil, Marian Nevins, in whom he was to find complete happiness and a devoted companion and sympathiser. In the same year Mr. and Mrs. MacDowell returned to Frankfort, after having visited England.
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.
The year 1891 was a successful one for MacDowell, for it saw two performances of a large orchestral work, _First Suite, in A minor_, he had just completed; the production of his symphonic _Fragments_ (_Op_. 30); and his first pianoforte recital in America.