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A Wagner Matinee
Willa Cather is considered to be one of the best chroniclers of pioneer life in the 20th century. She had a long and distinguished career writing essays, poems, short stories, and novels. This story is a powerful example of a frequent theme: the haunting, sometimes painful, contrast between city and country life.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1904
1 person is currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Willa Cather
876 books2,769 followersWilella Sibert Cather was born in Back Creek Valley (Gore), Virginia, in December 7, 1873.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
August 26, 2020
"A Wagner Matinee" is a story of hardship, memories, and regrets. Aunt Georgiana, a well-educated music teacher in Boston, left a life that she loved to get married. She and her husband were pioneers in Nebraska, living a life of hardship and isolation. When she comes to Boston to settle an estate, her nephew Clark remembers her kindness, her help with his schooling, their mutual love of music, and how she steered him away from a life on the farm that did not suit his interests. Clark treats Aunt Georgiana to a symphony concert, and her reaction is an important part of the story.
December 4, 2024
A young man's aunt comes to town from rural Nebraska. Long ago she left Boston and her job as a music teacher to run away with "the most idle and shiftless of all the village lads". This takes her, with her new husband to a dug out homestead on the Nebraskan frontier living in "conditions of primitive savagery".
How will this aunt who has been away from her genteel life for so many years react on return?
Its a wonderful story with descriptive phrases that almost blew my socks off. Made we want to run to the bookshelf to address immediately my lack of Cather's writing.
the complete story can be found online https://cather.unl.edu/writings/short...
How will this aunt who has been away from her genteel life for so many years react on return?
Its a wonderful story with descriptive phrases that almost blew my socks off. Made we want to run to the bookshelf to address immediately my lack of Cather's writing.
the complete story can be found online https://cather.unl.edu/writings/short...
August 27, 2020
Her eyes were closed, but the tears were glistening on her cheeks, and I think in a moment more they were in my eyes as well. It never really dies, then, the soul? It withers to the outward eye only, like that strange moss which can lie on a dusty shelf half a century and yet, if placed in water, grows green again.
What an amazing story. It incorporates all those wonderful traits that I have come to associate with Willa Cather: the beautiful language, the understanding of the difficult life of the plains, the ebb and flow of the music of the soul; and it delivers a strong message built around the contrasts of the city cultures and the farming realities.
I want to say much more, but I don’t want to give away the story for anyone who has not read it. If you love Cather, you will love this; if you do not know Cather, I cannot think of a better way to get an introduction.
What an amazing story. It incorporates all those wonderful traits that I have come to associate with Willa Cather: the beautiful language, the understanding of the difficult life of the plains, the ebb and flow of the music of the soul; and it delivers a strong message built around the contrasts of the city cultures and the farming realities.
I want to say much more, but I don’t want to give away the story for anyone who has not read it. If you love Cather, you will love this; if you do not know Cather, I cannot think of a better way to get an introduction.
May 26, 2024
This book tells the story of a nephew who takes his aunt on a nostalgic journey through a Wagner matinee.
It's quite good in my opinion, though a bit boring at times.
It's quite good in my opinion, though a bit boring at times.
August 27, 2015
eh
this books was a little boring and kinda pointless. I only read it because I had to for school. I was reallllly bored
this books was a little boring and kinda pointless. I only read it because I had to for school. I was reallllly bored
January 31, 2019
Love this story! So thankful that Stephen assigned it for the reading group. Beautiful, heart-tending—haunting!
August 8, 2018
I'm not a huge fan of short stories and it is truly a challenge for me. This one packed a lot of emotion into a very short piece. While sad, I really felt the time and place.
November 14, 2018
As read by Public Domain Theater
November 10, 2017
Not terrible, but I guess I'm just not much of a Willa Cather fan.
March 9, 2018
The majority of literary works of American author Willa Cather were linked with the place where she had passed her youth: Nebraska, the USA. A Wagner Matinee is a story about the perception of the classical music by the woman who kept her passion for music through severe life in the prairies.
The narrator, whose name was Clark, studied music in Boston. He had got a letter from his uncle reading that his aunt Georgiana from Nebraska was arriving the next day. He hardly recognized her in the train because her harsh life in Nebraska had changed her appearance dramatically. Before she moved to Nebraska, she was a music teacher at Boston Conservatory. During her vacation in Nebraska, where her ancestors had lived for generations, she met a boy who became her friend. He followed her to Boston and eventually they got married and moved to Nebraska.
They had no money. Their life hardships in the prairies were described in this paragraph:
"They built a dugout in the red hillside, one of those cave dwellings whose inmates so often reverted to primitive conditions. Their water they got from the lagoons where the buffalo drank and their slender stock of provisions was always at the mercy of bands of roving Indians. For thirty years my aunt had not been further than fifty miles from the homestead. "
The current appearance of Mrs. Georgiana didn’t have much in common with young Mrs. Georgiana who taught little Clark literature and arts. She avoided talking about music. The reason was explained by the narrator in this episode:
"I had found among her music books, she came up to me and, putting her hands over my eyes, gently drew my head back upon her shoulder, saying tremulously, “Don't love it so well, Clark, or it may be taken from you. Oh! dear boy, pray that whatever your sacrifice may be, it be not that.”
Now the Aunt Georgiana came to Boston and Clark decided to invite her to a concert of classical music, to Wagner Matinee. It seemed that the thoughts of Mrs. Georgiana were far away from the concert hall, "she had forgotten to leave instructions about feeding half-skimmed milk to a certain weakling calf ... She was further troubled because she had neglected to tell her daughter about the freshly-opened kit of mackerel in the cellar, which would spoil if it were not used directly."
Clark thought that the invitation to the concert might have been a mistake, this world of classical music was dead for her forever. After the first music composition passed, her attitude to that event changed dramatically. "The first number was the Tannhauser overture. When the horns drew out the first strain of the Pilgrim's chorus, my Aunt Georgiana clutched my coat sleeve. Then it was I first realized that for her this broke a silence of thirty years; the inconceivable silence of the plains."
Not everyone is capable of appreciating the beauty of the classical music.
An ear for music is a gift of nature which some people get at birth. The writers, journalists who write about classical music often describe it using images of beautiful nature, recollections of something pleasant. Willa Cather used another method, she described the perception of music by a person who sincerely loves it.
Willa Cather conveyed to readers the awareness of the beauty of music. That is a wonderful feature of reading: people who stand far away from the area which is described in literary works could get immersed in unfamiliar settings and situations. Severe life in prairies, a gentle feeling of music, the perception of beauty are the subjects of the exploration in this story.
Here is the link to the text of the story:
http://www.thomas.k12.ga.us/userfiles...
The narrator, whose name was Clark, studied music in Boston. He had got a letter from his uncle reading that his aunt Georgiana from Nebraska was arriving the next day. He hardly recognized her in the train because her harsh life in Nebraska had changed her appearance dramatically. Before she moved to Nebraska, she was a music teacher at Boston Conservatory. During her vacation in Nebraska, where her ancestors had lived for generations, she met a boy who became her friend. He followed her to Boston and eventually they got married and moved to Nebraska.
They had no money. Their life hardships in the prairies were described in this paragraph:
"They built a dugout in the red hillside, one of those cave dwellings whose inmates so often reverted to primitive conditions. Their water they got from the lagoons where the buffalo drank and their slender stock of provisions was always at the mercy of bands of roving Indians. For thirty years my aunt had not been further than fifty miles from the homestead. "
The current appearance of Mrs. Georgiana didn’t have much in common with young Mrs. Georgiana who taught little Clark literature and arts. She avoided talking about music. The reason was explained by the narrator in this episode:
"I had found among her music books, she came up to me and, putting her hands over my eyes, gently drew my head back upon her shoulder, saying tremulously, “Don't love it so well, Clark, or it may be taken from you. Oh! dear boy, pray that whatever your sacrifice may be, it be not that.”
Now the Aunt Georgiana came to Boston and Clark decided to invite her to a concert of classical music, to Wagner Matinee. It seemed that the thoughts of Mrs. Georgiana were far away from the concert hall, "she had forgotten to leave instructions about feeding half-skimmed milk to a certain weakling calf ... She was further troubled because she had neglected to tell her daughter about the freshly-opened kit of mackerel in the cellar, which would spoil if it were not used directly."
Clark thought that the invitation to the concert might have been a mistake, this world of classical music was dead for her forever. After the first music composition passed, her attitude to that event changed dramatically. "The first number was the Tannhauser overture. When the horns drew out the first strain of the Pilgrim's chorus, my Aunt Georgiana clutched my coat sleeve. Then it was I first realized that for her this broke a silence of thirty years; the inconceivable silence of the plains."
Not everyone is capable of appreciating the beauty of the classical music.
An ear for music is a gift of nature which some people get at birth. The writers, journalists who write about classical music often describe it using images of beautiful nature, recollections of something pleasant. Willa Cather used another method, she described the perception of music by a person who sincerely loves it.
Willa Cather conveyed to readers the awareness of the beauty of music. That is a wonderful feature of reading: people who stand far away from the area which is described in literary works could get immersed in unfamiliar settings and situations. Severe life in prairies, a gentle feeling of music, the perception of beauty are the subjects of the exploration in this story.
Here is the link to the text of the story:
http://www.thomas.k12.ga.us/userfiles...
July 7, 2024
Georgiana, the aunt of a young man named Clark living in Boston, comes to visit him. Georgiana was once a talented teacher at the Boston Conservatory, but 30 years ago, she eloped with a poor man named Howard, who was ten years younger than her, and they started a homestead in Nebraska. Clark decides to take his aunt, who has lived a life of self-sacrifice devoid of music on the western frontier, to a Wagner matinee held in the city...
---
This is a short story by Willa Cather published in 1904. At first, you might think it's a story about people full of American spirit, pursuing their dreams and venturing out to make a better life for themselves in the West, but it's not. The relentless life on the western frontier has eroded Georgiana's mind and body over many years.
The TV series "Little House on the Prairie" was popular in Japan as well, but unlike that dream-filled family drama, you will find Cather's relentless realism exceedingly cruel.
This is definitely another work that can be rightly called American literature, depicting the significant economic and cultural gap between urban and rural dwellers with unflinching realism.
---
This is a short story by Willa Cather published in 1904. At first, you might think it's a story about people full of American spirit, pursuing their dreams and venturing out to make a better life for themselves in the West, but it's not. The relentless life on the western frontier has eroded Georgiana's mind and body over many years.
The TV series "Little House on the Prairie" was popular in Japan as well, but unlike that dream-filled family drama, you will find Cather's relentless realism exceedingly cruel.
This is definitely another work that can be rightly called American literature, depicting the significant economic and cultural gap between urban and rural dwellers with unflinching realism.
May 30, 2024
I don't usually write a lot of reviews, but because I read this for a literature class, I'm gonna do just that.
I'm going to give this a 3.5 ⭐️ rounded to 4.
Although the story is short, it still has a bit of an emotional impact, at least for me. As someone who has, in modern times, lived in the city as well as the country, I can very much relate to Aunt Georgiana in this story. Her emotion from recalling a life from long ago. And I imagine the difficulty of going from a well-educated woman in Boston to becoming a hard-working pioneer woman was quite substantial. All in all, I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I believed I would.
I'm going to give this a 3.5 ⭐️ rounded to 4.
Although the story is short, it still has a bit of an emotional impact, at least for me. As someone who has, in modern times, lived in the city as well as the country, I can very much relate to Aunt Georgiana in this story. Her emotion from recalling a life from long ago. And I imagine the difficulty of going from a well-educated woman in Boston to becoming a hard-working pioneer woman was quite substantial. All in all, I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I believed I would.
October 12, 2023
Odd story about a woman who from all accounts is described as not much to look at but gets swept off her feet and marries a man of lesser means. She had a promising career in music but gave it up and never talks about it. She visits her nephew I think, and they end up going to the music venue and she weeps and regrets her loss of music throughout her life and never wants to leave.
It was an okay read.
It was an okay read.
Read
December 17, 2024From the trembling of her face I could well believe that before the last numbers she had been carried out where the myriad graves are, into the grey, nameless burying grounds of the sea; or into some world of death vaster yet, where, from the beginning of the world, hope has lain down with hope and dream with dream and, renouncing, slept.
October 28, 2017
A nephew and his beloved aunt reunite after a “lifetime”. His time spent with his Aunt in his childhood is reflected on with vignettes scattered throughout their attendance to a Wagner performance. Memories shared, personal choices made, our impact on each other.
May 21, 2024
Es una linda historia que apela mucho a lo sensorial y lo descriptivo. Describe la diferencias entre los distintos estilos de vida a través del aspecto de una mujer. Eso me pareció muy interesante. Linda forma de escribir
September 30, 2024
(read for school) this was a really poignant look at how women often had to give up their dreams for men and love. i found my heart breaking for aunt georgiana even though this was such a short story. really wonderful
December 5, 2025
Told from the perspective of a young narrator who shares a special kinship with his Aunt Georgiana, a once well-educated woman, now wife of his deadbeat uncle, worn down by years of hard labour. Cather quietly examines the consequences of an inter-class marriage: Aunt Georgiana’s youth, intellect, and agency were gradually stifled the moment she left her Boston city life and family behind for the harsh realities of a Nebraska farm. Seen through the narrator’s eyes, we develop a deep sympathy for Aunt G, who perhaps can be read as a symbol of the pressures placed on unmarried women to settle for less, often without fully grasping the permanence of that choice until much later. Yet I felt the ending doesn't land on a note of sadness; its ambiguity allows for a more empowering interpretation of a true awakening. I really love this, and I can't wait for next year's discussion.
April 12, 2018
Heartbreakingly bittersweet. Cather perfectly captures the pain of something loved and lost, never to be found again. [Saudade]
October 24, 2020
Short story about a woman with dementia and her deep reaction and emotional connection to music.
May 21, 2021
A beautifully written novel about someone you watch, and are transported to, a beautiful man growing up. No one ever said it was going to be easy.
October 29, 2021
This was a lovely story about how art feeds the soul, an expression of gratitude, and perhaps regret.
January 28, 2022
hard to read
Read
April 17, 2022not really a book
September 12, 2023
2.5 stars**
the writing was pretty!! and i didn’t expect this to be sad!!!
the writing was pretty!! and i didn’t expect this to be sad!!!
September 12, 2023
2.5 stars
Read
September 15, 2023My favorite piece read so far in ENGL 2328
December 26, 2023
Boring!!
February 14, 2024
Simply beautiful! Cather’s descriptive imagery and emphasis on feelings of nostalgia bring me to tears every time. 🥲
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews