Tag: Music

When I was in my late teens and early 20s, no writer enthralled me more than Mark Twain. His observations could be so contemporary, so scathing, and so hilarious.

As with much else, Twain had a lot to say about music. He was not a big fan of classical music, least of all opera. Or so he maintained. Everyone loves a good bon mot, so we all remember the withering zingers.

But taken collectively, Twain’s reactions are more of a mixed bag. He likes the stuff he knows and enjoys Wagner in moderation. At the very least, he concedes that he wants to like “the higher music,” but would like to do so without expending the time, the effort, and the attention it would take to make it more rewarding, or at the very least comprehensible. Somehow, he just never caught the spark that for me flared into a wildfire. Perhaps if at the time the ability to hear the music had been more accessible.

I gather, more than anything, it’s the phonies that he found repellent, and justifiably so. He singles out those who make a big display of themselves, humming along to ensure everyone around them recognizes their authority and absorption. It’s worth noting that this was at a time when going to the opera was more of a rarified experience, for many financially prohibitive, and perceived as a social gathering of the upper classes.

Twain’s experiences with music were in the days before records, before classical radio, even before supertitles at the opera. He refers to melodies he knows from having encountered them on a hand-organ or a music box as the extent of his music education. These, he confesses, he finds delightful when heard in the opera house. So it seems the potential was there. What he lacked was regular exposure, without the annoyance and affectations of other people – a few more positive experiences. What he might have thought in this more democratic age of cell phone disruptions is anyone’s guess.

Twain on opera:
http://www.twainquotes.com/Opera.html

Of course, he could be just as irreverent about the banjo:

Mark Twain on the ‘glory-beaming banjo’

It’s okay, Sam. You may hate classical music, but we still love you. Happy birthday.