What is the tone of A Wagner Matinee?

Answer 1

This story is a bout a young boy named Clark, who is living in Boston. He receives a letter saying that his Aunt Georgiana is coming to visit from Nebraska.

As a young woman, Georgiana had been a talented music teacher at the Boston conservatory until, during a trip to the Green Mountains, she met Howard Carpenter, ten years her junior. They eloped and moved to a homestead in Nebraska.

It has been thirty years 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.

source :

wikipedia

Answer 2

The tone of "A Wagner Matinee" by Willa Cather is nostalgic and bittersweet. The story reflects on the sacrifices made for art and the passage of time, evoking a sense of longing and regret.

Answer 3

Sympathetic