Edward Alexander MacDowell (Dec. 18, 1860 - Jan. 23. 1908) was an American pianist and composer. Born in New York City, he took piano lessons from various people as a child, and when he was 17, his mother decided to take him to Paris, where he attended the Paris Conservatory. He studied there for two years, before continuing in Germany a Dr. Hoch's Conservatory in Frankfurt. While he was there, Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann visited the university, and MacDowell played Robert Schumann's Quintet, and later on played his own works for Liszt, who would go on to recommend him for performance and introduce him to major music publishers. MacDowell would go on to teach at Columbia University, and was their first professor of music.
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