That following represents the passing of Arthur." MacDowell had intended to inscribe the scherzo: "After Dore"; but he finally thought better of this because, as he told Mr.N.J.Corey, "the superscription seemed to single it out too much from the other movements." Concerning this movement Mr.Corey writes: "The passage which it [the Dore picture] illustrates, may be found in [Tennyson's] _Guinevere_, in the story of the little novice, following a few lines after the well known 'Late, late, so late!' poem.

I always had a little feeling," continues Mr.Corey, "that the sonata would have been stronger, from a programme standpoint, with this movement omitted--that it had perhaps been included largely as a concession to the traditions of sonata form.

The fact that no scherzos were included in the two sonatas that followed, strengthened my opinion in regard to this.

I questioned him in regard to it later when I saw him in New York, and he replied that it was a matter over which he had pondered considerably, and one which had influenced him in the composition of the last two sonatas, as the insertion of a scherzo in such a scheme did seem something like an interruption, or 'aside.'" [14] It must be confessed that this qualification is a little difficult to grasp.

Is not the sonata dependent for its complete understanding upon a knowledge of its literary basis?
MacDowell exhibits here the half-heartedness which I have elsewhere remarked in his attitude toward representative music.
In this sonata MacDowell has been not only faithful to his text, he has illuminated it.