Nationalising Classical Music

I was amused by one of the earlier scenes in Howards End - the orchestral concert. In addition to being immensely humorous, this scene provides a metric for determining the cultural status of the listeners. The initial assumption is that the listener has a certain level of privilege already; we see the amount of concern in Leonard Bast after he pays the amount necessary for entrance to the concert. Though the seats are cheap at two shillings, Leonard fears that the cost is higher than the potential benefits. Next, ones response to music reveals something about nationality. For example, Mrs. Munt enjoys "tap[ping] surreptitiously when the tunes come" and is described as "so British, and wanting to tap" (26, 28). The German listeners, on the other hand, remember "all the time that Beethoven is 'echt Deutsch'" and are unable to form responses to the music (27). Further information is given about the Germans; for example, "Frieda, listening to Classical Music, could not respond. Herre Liesecke, too, looked as if wild horses could not make him inattentive" (27). These responses to music, classified through nationality, are suggestive. The British temperament, if we are to take the narrator at his or her word, desires to regulate the physical body in obedience to the rhythm of the music, suggesting a tendency toward regulated action. The German personality considers music an intensely demanding undertaking. Additionally, the capitalization of classical music alludes to the practice of capitalizing nouns in German, but it also suggests that classical music is something of an institution, revealing the amount of cultural capital assigned to it, at least by the German listeners. The Schlegel sisters fall into neither trap. They both are able to engage with the music on both an emotional and intellectual level, suggesting their position as cosmopolitan.