The Witch, Op. 5, 1898. Edward MacDowell, 1860-1908. Music Division, Library of Congress. Call number: M3.3 .M14 op. 5 1898

From 1896 to 1898, MacDowell published four partsongs for the Mendelssohn Glee Club under the pseudonym of Edgar Thorn, fearing the members would feel obligated to accept the songs if he revealed he had written them. Other works by "Edgar Thorn" are The Rose and the Gardener, Love and Time, and War Song. The narrative text by MacDowell is about a witch living in a hut near the sea. It includes variously assembled and appropriate witch-like phrases, such as "fo, fum, fee" and "hobble-gobble," to great effect. MacDowell stretches meter and duration to grandly depict the groaning sea. The final verse uses the same music as the first, but twice as slow. The sun sets over the hut, and the witch moans over her ginger tea and the passing of youth.