Genre:

Reminiscences

Subjects:

Music, Language, Comparative Philology, Lecturing, Amusement

    The narrator recollects how, following a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's 'grand Mass' (probably the Missa Solemnis), it was difficult to use the word 'music' to describe both the sublime music of Beethoven and that of the 'German band' who interrupted his reflections after the concert. Thinks its 'logical conclusion' should be left to Friedrich Max Müller (who was then giving a series of lectures on the science of language at the Royal Institution).