Barcarole, 1892. Edward MacDowell, 1860-1908. Music Division, Library of Congress. Call number:
M3.3 .M14 op. 44 1892
This work is unique among MacDowell's choral works for its lush vocal richness and coloristic four-hand piano display. Frequent hemiolas, grace notes, trills, and triplet patterns in the piano partner with a lyric melodic breadth and sensitive harmonic progressions in the voices. The poem is by F. M. von Bodenstedt (1819-1892), a well-known German writer whose texts were also set by Brahms, Grieg, Liszt, and Meyerbeer, among others. MacDowell's rhymed and approximate translation is set below the German text in the score. The glow of the sun on ocean waves is a metaphor for the affection of his beloved. He asks that she understand his love and his song, which is also reflected in the sun, or leave him to continue dreaming. This may be one of McDowell's early works that was published much later. One could easily imagine MacDowell playing the piano part alongside his wife Marian.