But while it is a fine thing to both understand and enjoy, understanding is not essential to enjoyment in the purely emotional sense—to the enjoyment most people feel when listening to music.
The voice of a street singer borne in upon the night air, even the sound of a hurdy-gurdy, pleases, though we do not
SOUSA CARDOZA
Leap of the Rabbit
know the song or the air. There is a species of pleasure in not knowing that is dissipated when we recall or are told.
Many of our enjoyments are more than half dreamy. Is it not true that the dreamy element is essential to purely emotional enjoyment?
I confess to a very ignorant enjoyment of music. If I am at a concert I do not like to be told what it is all about. I enjoy good music without knowing or caring why, and I like to hear it without being seated where I am more than half-hypnotized by the rhythmical movements of the orchestra, especially the fascinating bowing of the violins.
