"A Wagner Matinee" is by a woman named Willa Cather. What I got from this story was two things, how music can effect people, and a little bit about pioneer life. So basically, this story is about a man who gets a letter from his Uncle saying that his Aunt Georgiana is coming into town and he must pick her up at the station the very next day. The man has very found memories of his Aunt from when he was a young boy. He states, "I owed to this woman most of the good that ever came my way in my boyhood, and had a reverential affection for her." and also, "It was to her, at her ironing or mending, that I read my first Shakespeare', and her old textbook on mythology was the first that ever came into my empty hands. She taught me my scales and exercises, too--on the little parlor organ, which her husband had bought her after fifteen years, during which she had not so much as seen any instrument, but an accordion that belonged to one of the Norwegian farmhands." This tells us a lot about the Aunt. She sounds very reserved, but still loving.
Anyways, he goes the next day to pick her up from the station and he notices that she looks very different than she used to. Her clothes were kind of unusual. He wanted his Aunt to have a great time while visiting so he decided to take her to a concert. (His Aunt had a great musical education). As they are sitting there listening to the music, she begins to cry. "I don't want to go, Clark, I don't want to go!" The man understands because compared to her pioneer life, the music and atmosphere brings back so many memories. I liked reading this story because I thought that it was a good story and I like how it incorporated all of the music, and history.
"Willa Cather's Short Story: A Wagner Matinee." Read Book Online: Literature Books,novels,short Stories,fiction,non-fiction, Poems,essays,plays,Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
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