Woodland Sketches

Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, is a suite of ten short piano pieces by the American composer Edward MacDowell. It was written during an 1896 stay at MacDowell's summer retreat in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where each piece was inspired by a different aspect of the surrounding nature and landscape. The suite was first published in 1896, with pieces such as "To a Wild Rose" and "To a Water-lily" becoming some of MacDowell's most popular works. While some pieces are notable for their use of impressionistic techniques in depicting the New England wilderness, others are based on elements from Native American and Southern music. Woodland Sketches is considered by critics and historians to contain some of MacDowell's most skillful and distinctive works.