In the "Tragica"-- his first essay in the form--he has vouchsafed only the general indication of his purpose which is declared in the title of the work, though it is known that in composing the music MacDowell was moved by the memory of his grief over the death of his master Raff (it might stand even more appropriately as a commentary on the tragedy of his own life).

The tragic note is sounded, with impressive authority and force, in the brief introduction, _largo maestoso_.

The music, from the first, drives to the very heart of the subject: there is neither pose nor bombast in the presentation of the thought; and this attitude is maintained throughout--in the ingratiating loveliness of the second subject, in the fierce striving of the middle section, in the noble and sombre slow movement,--a _largo_ of profound pathos and dignity,--and in the dramatic and impassioned close (the scherzo is, I think, less good).

Of this final _allegro_ an exposition has been vouchsafed.

While in the preceding movements, it is said, he aimed at expressing tragic details, in the last he has tried to generalise.