Hi,

I'm a little late joining into this discussion; nevertheless, at the
risk of duplicating others' quotes, I went to Caroline's card file to
take a peek. Any of you who knew Caroline will not be surprised to hear
that there are no less than thirty file cards filled with Mark Twain's
references to music. Below is a list of quotes I worked from in 1983
when I wrote material for the hundredth anniversary of the building of
the Brooklyn Bridge, when "Mark Twain" hosted an evening of music with
the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and also told the story of the building
of the bridge in between pieces. 

I'm sorry these quotes are not annotated, but if anyone wants to know
the source of any of them, it would be easy enough for me to look that
up, so don't hesitate to ask. I do know that Caroline was pretty
meticulous, and will vouch for the authenticity of these gems. I'm
afraid there are more quotes about music he didn't like than there are
quotes about his favorites in this list, but you might be amused by his
critical comments as well.

Have a great day.

Richard Henzel
312-296-8396
http://www.richardhenzel.com

MARK TWAIN AND MUSIC

LIKES

While it was not until his later years that Clemens became fully
acquainted with, and appreciative of the classical music, he did have a
lifetime love, appreciation, and ability for music--the American Negro
Spiritual. While running a printing press, cooking venison in a remote
mining camp, steering the majestic Pennsylvania past magnolia forests,
or riding a camel across African deserts, he could be expected to burst
into any one of a dozen of his favorite spirituals.

His longtime Irish maidservant, Katie Leary tells of his singing
spirituals to his wife on the night that she died. She also describes
another occasion:  “...Mr. Clemens was there. It was a perfectly
lovely night and there was a full moon outside and no lights in the
house. They was just settin’ there in the music room, lookin’ out at
the moonlight, and suddenly Mr. Clemens got right up without any warning
and begun to sing one of them Negro spirituals. He just stood up with
both his eyes shut and begun to sing kind of soft like--a faint sound,
just as if there was wind in the trees: and he kept right on singin’
kind o’ low and sweet, and it was beautiful and made your heart ache
somehow. And he kept on singin’ and singin’ and became kind of lost
in it, and he was all lit up--his face was. ‘Twas something’ from
another world. When he got through, he put his two hands up to his head,
just as though all the sorrow of them Negroes was upon him; and then he
begun to sing, ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen, Nobody Knows but
Jesus.’ That was one o’ them Negro Spiritual songs, and when he come
to the end, to the Glory Hallelujah, he gave a great shout--just like
the Negroes do--he shouted out ‘Glory, Glory Hallelujah!’ It was
wonderful, and none there will forget it as long as they live.”

When Clemens was 7 years old, his father bought one of the first
American made pianos for the family. While his sister took formal
lessons, Sam learned to play in his own elementary way, enough to
accompany himself when he sang--and his style would remain pretty
constant through his life. His daughter Clara describes his technique
some 25 years later: “He had a curious way of playing...each time he
played a chord it seemed as if a miracle had happened. He always cleared
his throat many times before he began, and then sang quite loudly with
his head thrown back and his eyes fixed on the ceiling. We thought he
looked ‘cute.’ He interrupted himself constantly to correct wrong
chords, but usually in vain, for he could not find the right ones. Then
with some display of temper he would change to another song. His two
favorites were ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ and ‘Go Chain the Lion
Down,’ which he rendered in a truly impressive way, despite the fact
that certain lacks were noticeable. When he sang ‘Rise and Shine and
Give God the Glory Glory,’ he gave out so much fervor that one could
never forget it.”
On (we may assume the fifth symphony) Beethoven: that rich, noble
Beethoven piece--the one where, all along and all along, half a dozen of
the bass notes keep rolling back down-stairs a little way--only to the
first landing; and then get up again and roll down again, and are the
darling of the piece and the charm of it.
On the Opera: “The banging and slamming and booming and crashing were
something beyond belief. The racking and pitiless pain of it remains
stored up in my memory alongside the memory of the time I had my teeth
fixed.”


On the Wedding Chorus: A pretty air in an opera is [prettier there than
it could be anywhere else, just as an honest man in politics shines more
than he would elsewhere.


I have a strong liking for music and a decided preference for sombre and
solemn music over the other kinds..

A man with either humor or music in him is half-good and half-bad; he
must lack both, to be wholly bad, he must contain both to be wholly
good, perfectly good, unqualifiedly good. I contain both.

DISLIKES
Wagner’s “Parsifal”: “There is a hermit named Gurnemanz who
stands on the stage in one spot and practices by the hour, while first
one and then another character of the cast endures what he can of it and
then retires to die.”

“A great chorus composed entirely of maniacs would suddenly break
forth, and then during two minutes, and sometimes three, I lived over
again all that I suffered the time the orphan asylum burned down.”

“Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.”

“On “Fremersburg”: “I suppose the Fremersburg is very low grade
music; I know, indeed, that it must be low-grade music, because it so
delighted me, warmed me, stirred me... enraptured me that I was full of
cry all the time, and mad with enthusiasm.”

We often feel sad in the presence of music without words; and often more
than that in the presence of music without music.

On amateur piano players: Early twilight in Bermuda--there is enough of
whispering breeze, fragrance of flowers, and sense of repose to raise
one’s thoughts heavenward, and just enough amateur piano music to keep
him reminded of the other place. there are many venerable pianos in
Hamilton, and they all play at twilight. Age enlarges and enriches the
powers of some musical instruments--notable those  of the violin--but it
sets a piano’s teeth on edge.

On amateur flautist in Hawaii: There is a villain over the way...I have
got to waiting and painfully looking out for it latterly. I wish his
funeral was to come off at half-past eleven o’clock tomorrow and I had
nothing to do. I would attend it.