The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 68, June, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and PoliticsVarious
Science
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 68, June, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
There is yet another way. You may go with one or many who believe and
practise the doctrine of _laissez-faireity_. Do not now proceed to dash
your brains out against that word. I have just done it myself, and one
such head as mine is ample sacrifice for any verbal crime. They go to
the concert for love of music,--negatively for its rest and refreshment,
positively for its embodied delights. They take you for your enjoyment,
which they permit you to compass after your own fashion. They force from
you no comment. They demand no criticism. They do not require censure as
your certificate of taste. They do not trouble themselves with your
demeanor. If you choose to talk in the pauses, they are receptive and
cordial. If you choose to be silent, it is just as well. If you go to
sleep, they will not mind,--unless, under the spell of the genius of the
place, your sleep becomes vocal, and you involuntarily join the concert
in the undesirable _rôle_ of De Trop. If you go into raptures, it is all
the same; you are not watched and made a note of. They leave you at the
top of your bent. Whether you shall be amused, delighted, or disgusted,
they respect your decisions and allow you to remain free.
How did I go to my concert? Can I tell for the eyes that made "a
sunshine in the shady place"? Was I not veiled with the beautiful hair,
and blinded with the lily's white splendor? So went I with the Fairy
Queen in her golden coach drawn by six white mice, and, behold, I was in
Camilla's concert-room.
It is to be a fiddle affair. Now I am free to say, if there is anything
I hate, it is a fiddle. Hide it away under as many Italian coatings as
you choose,--viol, violin, viola, violone, violoncello,
violoncellettissimo, at bottom it is all one, a fiddle; in its best
estate, a diddle, diddle, frivolous, rattling, Yankee-Doodle,
country-tavern-ball whirligig, without dignity, sentiment, or power; and
at worst a rubbing, rasping, squeaking, woolleny, noisy nuisance, that
it sets my teeth on edge to think of. I shudder at the mere memory of
the reluctant bow dragging its slow length across the whining strings.
And here I am, in my sober senses, come to hear a fiddle!
But it is Camilla's. Do you remember--I don't, but I should, if I had
known it--a little girl who, a few years ago, became famous for her
wonderful performance on the violin? At six years of age she went to a
great concert, and of all the fine instruments there, the unseen spirit
within her made choice, "Papa, I should like to learn the violin." So
she learned it and loved it, and when ten years old delighted foreign
and American audiences with her marvellous genius. It was the little
Camilla who now, after ten years of silence, tuned her beloved
instrument once more.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account