3. The final movement is generally dark and fierce, moving swiftly and of great technical difficulty. Near the end we notice the direction, _Gradually increasing in violence and intensity_, and later an unforgettable passage occurs _With tragic pathos_. The sonata ends with a fierce rush, of enormous and elemental power. The key to the meaning of the _Keltic_ sonata is given in some lines of his own which MacDowell placed at its head, but they are only part of all that he expressed in it. They should be read together with the lines entitled _Cuchullin_ in the book of his verses. _Cuchullin_ was considered unconquerable and even his form, when at last frozen in death, awed all who saw it; and it is of the might and tragedy of this old figure in Celtic legend that the sonata seems to tell. The final pages of the last movement may be considered as a vivid expression of the scene which Standish O'Grady, whose work MacDowell loved, has so superbly described:--"Cuculain sprang forth, but as he sprang, Lewy MacConroi pierced him through the bowels. Then fell the great hero of Gael. Thereat the sun darkened, and the earth trembled ... when, with a crash, fell that pillar of heroism, and that flame of the warlike valour of Erin was extinguished." The stricken warrior made his way painfully to a tall pillar, the grave of some bygone fighter, and tied himself to it, dying with his sword in his hand and his terrifying helmet flashing in the sun. In O'Grady's words:--"So stood Cuculain, even in death-pangs, a terror to his enemies, for a deep spring of stern valour was opened in his soul, and the might of his unfathomable spirit sustained him. Thus perished Cuculain." ... Superb as these lines are, they are equalled in expression by the music of MacDowell's _Keltic_ sonata. OPUS 60. THREE SONGS, FOR VOICE AND PIANOFORTE. _First Published_, 1902 (Arthur P. Schmidt). 1. _Tyrant Love._ 2. _Fair Springtide._ 3. _To the Golden-rod._ This is the last song group that MacDowell published. It contains music of great charm and poetic beauty, with a grave tenderness that was ever his own. The verses are all from his pen and show his unusual literary gifts. _Tyrant Love_ (_Lightly, yet with tenderness_). This is the least fine of the three, and yet in itself it is a song of rare quality and far above the commonplace. The music is beautiful, although not free from distortion of the words. _Fair Springtide_ (_Very slow, with pathos_). This is one of the best and most mature of MacDowell's songs. It makes a lovely solo, full of sweet and tender sadness, seldom failing to move its hearers. Both as regards words and music, it comes straight from the soul of its composer.