Composer Edward Alexander MacDowell was born on December 18, 1860, in New York City. He composed several notable works and was one of the first people inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
The son of a Manhattan milk dealer, MacDowell, received piano lessons from Juan Buitrago, Pablo Desverine, and Teresa Carreño. His mother then took him to France where he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory in 1877. MacDowell studied there for two years under Antoine François Marmontel before going to Frankfurt, Germany to study at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory under Carl Heymann and Joachim Raff. By 1881, MacDowell began traveling and performing some of his own compositions.