Edward MacDowell was a well-known American composer in the 1800s. His music was liked by critics in both Europe and the United States, and respected composers like Franz Liszt and Joachim Raff admired his work. His early pieces showed the influence of his studies in Germany and reflected European music styles. Most of his compositions had descriptive titles, which was common in Romantic music. MacDowell was one of the first seven Americans to become a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1904. At age fifteen, MacDowell went to France with his mother to study at the Paris Conservatoire. He won a scholarship for foreign students and studied piano with Antoine François Marmontel, a highly regarded teacher who selected only thirteen students from many applicants. After two years, MacDowell was unhappy with the teaching and moved to Germany to continue his studies. In 1879, MacDowell studied piano and composition at the Frankfurt Conservatory under Carl Heymann and Joachim Raff. During this time, he met Franz Liszt, who was impressed after hearing MacDowell play a piece by Schumann. Liszt encouraged MacDowell's work and helped get his music published. Later, financial problems made MacDowell and his family return to America, where he composed some of his best-known works while living in Boston and New Hampshire. The New Hampshire property became the site of the MacDowell Colony, a place for artists to work, which still operates today.