In 1896 Edward MacDowell and his wife
Marian purchased a farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was, in his
time, the most highly regarded composer in America.
MacDowell died in 1908 at the age of
46. After his death Marian built a number of one-room studio cottages at
the Peterborough farm. She invited poets, playwrights, composers, painters,
authors and sculptorsto come and make art.
And, over the years, artists came.
Many who later became famous were not recognized when they first came to
MacDowell. Some of the greatest art of the twentieth century was created
in the woods of Peterborough, New Hampshire. In fact, more than 50 MacDowell
colonists have won Pulitzer Prizes. |
This
historical documentary includes filmed interviews with Aaron Copland and
Leonard Bernstein. It gives us an inside view of the Colony and how it
works. It is also the story of Marian MacDowell and how she turned 450
acres of New Hampshire farmland into the most creative piece of ground
in America.