A Wagner Matinee is a short story by Willa Cather. Willa Sibert Cather ( December 7, 1873 &ndash April 24, 1947) was an American author who grew up in Nebraska. It was first published in Everybody's Magazine in February 1904[1]. Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on
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Plot summary
Clark receives a letter from his uncle who lives in Red Willow County, Nebraska, saying his wife is coming to Boston to sort out some inheritance papers. Red Willow County is a County located in the US state of Nebraska. Whilst there, Clark takes her to the opera, to see a Richard Wagner performance. She is on the verge of tears. The "Prize Song" reminds her of a German man she once knew. After the performance, she does not want to budge and starts sobbing. Clark understands; she will have to get back to the drudge of humdrum farm life.
Characters
- Clark, the narrator. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Howard Carpenter, the narrator's uncle.
- Aunt Georgiana. She worked as a music teacher at the Boston Conservatory in the 1860s, until she met Howard and decided to move to Nebraska with him. Nebraska ( is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and
- Mrs Springer, the narrator's landlady.
- Maggie, Aunt Georgiana's daughter.
- A German peasant from Bayreuth. Bayreuth ( pronounced) is a City in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb
Allusions to other works
- Through Aunt Georgiana, allusions made are to William Shakespeare, Carl Maria von Weber's Euryanthe, Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, Tristan und Isolde, Der Ring des Nibelungen and Siegfried, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore. William Shakespeare ( baptised Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London Euryanthe is a German Romantic Opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner. Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an Opera Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Siegfried is the third of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and Il trovatore ( The Troubadour) is an Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian Libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare
References
- ^ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, page 242
External links
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