Page 1475 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 5

At the concert in the afternoon two very interesting
things were performed. One was a fantasia, King Lear; the
other was a quartette dedicated to the memory of Bach.
Both were new and in the new style, and Levin was eager
to form an opinion of them. After escorting his sister-in-
law to her stall, he stood against a column and tried to
listen as attentively and conscientiously as possible. He
tried not to let his attention be distracted, and not to spoil
his impression by looking at the conductor in a white tie,
waving his arms, which always disturbed his enjoyment of
music so much, or the ladies in bonnets, with strings
carefully tied over their ears, and all these people either
thinking of nothing at all or thinking of all sorts of things
except the music. He tried to avoid meeting musical
connoisseurs or talkative acquaintances, and stood looking
at the floor straight before him, listening.
But the more he listened to the fantasia of Ring Lear
the further he felt from forming any definite opinion of it.
There was, as it were, a continual beginning, a preparation
of the musical expression of some feeling, but it fell to
pieces again directly, breaking into new musical motives,

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