[113.1] THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

Writer Margaret Drabble has penned a powerful article ('Sound and Fury') on her own struggle to appreciate music against a backdrop of 'tone deafness' and discouragement from schools and family. Finally the piece that clicks for her is Brahms' Serenade No 1 in D-major, Opus 11 (for large orchestra) of which she writes, ecstatically:

"[N]ow I know that piece of music. I played it, again and again and again, and it filled me with an inexplicable delight. I still play it, though less incessantly, and find it still performs the same miracle. Why? Is this what music is? Is this what other people mean when they say they love a piece of music? What is it for? What does it mean? And why do I respond to it so much? It doesn't seem to mean anything. And yet it exists, and it is beautiful, and it haunts me. I feel that I am unworthy of it. It is too good for me. I do not deserve it. Each time I play it, I cannot quite credit my good fortune." (c) Margaret Drabble, 2003