Composer; born in New York City. He studied in France and Germany and taught piano at the Darmstadt Conservatory, where he became a protégé of Liszt. Returning to the U.S.A in 1888, he lived and worked in Boston and then headed Columbia University's new department of music (1896--1904). While his music is essentially European-Romantic, he also flirted with American nationalistic materials in works such as the Indian Suite (1895). The most popular American composer of his era, he succeeded both in ambitious works, such as the Piano Concerto No. 2 (1889), and in parlor pieces for piano, such as the Woodland Sketches (1896). His widow established the MacDowell Colony at their farm in Peterborough, N.H., to serve as a summer residence for artists in various fields.