A Wagner Matinee
Encyclopedia
A Wagner Matinee is a short story by Willa Cather
. It was first published in Everybody's Magazine
in February 1904. In 1906, it appeared in Cather's first published collection of short stories, The Troll Garden
.
to settle an estate. As a young woman, Georgiana had been a talented music teacher at the Boston Conservatory
until, during a trip to the Nebraska plains, she fell in love with a homesteader, Howard Carpenter, ten years her junior. They married against her family's wishes.
Thirty years have passed since Georgiana has seen Boston
. Clark recalls her kindness to him when, as a boy, he visited Nebraska and she introduced him to Shakespeare, classic mythology, and the music she played on her small parlour organ.
Clark takes his aunt to a symphony concert of music from Richard Wagner
's Tannhauser
, Tristan und Isolde
, and The Flying Dutchman
. She is intensely moved by the music and listens with tears running down her face. When the concert ends, she says, "I don't want to go, Clark. I don't want to go."
Clark realizes that she has nothing ahead of her but the grim drudgery of life back in Nebraska.
Willa Cather
Willa Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
. It was first published in Everybody's Magazine
Everybody's Magazine
Everybody's Magazine was an American magazine from 1899 to 1929.The magazine was founded by Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker in 1899, though he had little role in its actual operations....
in February 1904. In 1906, it appeared in Cather's first published collection of short stories, The Troll Garden
The Troll Garden
A collection of short stories by Willa Cather, published in 1905.-Contents:This collection contains the following stories: * "On the Divide"* "Eric Hermannson's Soul"* "The Enchanted Bluff"* "The Bohemian Girl"* "Flavia and Her Artists"...
.
Plot summary
A young Bostonian named Clark receives word that his Aunt Georgiana is coming to visit from NebraskaNebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
to settle an estate. As a young woman, Georgiana had been a talented music teacher at the Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and musical theater...
until, during a trip to the Nebraska plains, she fell in love with a homesteader, Howard Carpenter, ten years her junior. They married against her family's wishes.
Thirty years have passed since Georgiana has seen Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Clark recalls her kindness to him when, as a boy, he visited Nebraska and she introduced him to Shakespeare, classic mythology, and the music she played on her small parlour organ.
Clark takes his aunt to a symphony concert of music from Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Tannhauser
Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser was a German Minnesänger and poet. Historically, his biography is obscure beyond the poetry, which dates between 1245 and 1265...
, Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, and The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman
The legend of the Flying Dutchman concerns a ghost ship that can never make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever. It probably originates from 17th-century nautical folklore. The oldest extant version dates to the late 18th century....
. She is intensely moved by the music and listens with tears running down her face. When the concert ends, she says, "I don't want to go, Clark. I don't want to go."
Clark realizes that she has nothing ahead of her but the grim drudgery of life back in Nebraska.
Themes
The story combines two familiar Cather themes — the hardship and desolation of pioneer life and the sustaining power of music on the human spirit.Setting
The story takes place in Boston, but the narrator describes Nebraska in detail. He describes how early settlers lived in dugout homes, which he says made their "inmates" revert to "primitive savagery." He talks about the monotony of the landscape, the endless rows of corn. Clark says that Georgiana's house is weather worn, "black and grim as a wooden fortress," and situated near a "black pond." Clark describes the weather as constantly exposing its inhabitants "to a pitiless wind, and to the alkaline water, which transforms the most transparent cuticle into a sort of flexible leather."Characters
- Clark, the story's narrator. He describes himself as having been "a gangling farmer-boy" with "chilblains and bashfulness." Clark, a bachelor, lives in Boston. He is cultured; he takes his aunt to the symphony because he knows how much she loves music. Georgiana gave Clark an appreciation for music. He dislikes Nebraska and characterizes Georgiana's life there negatively.
- Georgiana Carpenter, Clark's aunt
- Howard Carpenter, Clark's uncle
- Mrs. Springer, narrator's landlady
Allusions to other works
- Through Aunt Georgiana, allusions made are to William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Carl Maria von WeberCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
's EuryantheEuryantheEuryanthe is a German "grand, heroic, romantic" opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna on 25 October 1823...
, Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's The Flying DutchmanThe Flying Dutchman (opera)Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
, TannhauserTannhäuser (opera)Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
, Tristan und IsoldeTristan und IsoldeTristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, Der Ring des NibelungenDer Ring des NibelungenDer Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
and SiegfriedSiegfried (opera)Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Giacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
, Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Il trovatoreIl trovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
.
External links
- Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive