One of the first American pianists and composers to achieve any degree of international fame, Edward MacDowell was already a brilliant pianist at the age of 16. After a brief period in Paris, he studied composition in 1882 with Joachim Raff in Frankfurt, Germany. While there, MacDowell was also encouraged by Franz Liszt, to whom he dedicated his Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Minor.
In 1886 MacDowell completed his second piano concerto. One of the...