--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A musical audience is at best…" description: "\"A musical audience is at best uninspiring, at worst definitely drab. ... Respectability hangs like a pall over the orchestra and the boxes; a sort of s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d84/marya-mannes-6222_audience_a-musical-audience-is-at-best-uninspirin_109969.png" --- # A musical audience is at best uninspiring, at worst… ![“A musical audience is at best uninspiring, at worst definitely drab. ... Respectability hangs like a pall over the orchestra and the boxes; a sort of sterile sobriety ill-fitted to the passionate geometry of music.” quote by Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d84/marya-mannes-6222_audience_a-musical-audience-is-at-best-uninspirin_109969.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d84/marya-mannes-6222_audience_a-musical-audience-is-at-best-uninspirin_109969.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d84/marya-mannes-6222_audience_a-musical-audience-is-at-best-uninspirin_109969.png) > “A musical audience is at best uninspiring, at worst definitely drab. ... Respectability hangs like a pall over the orchestra and the boxes; a sort of sterile sobriety ill-fitted to the passionate geometry of music.” [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Formal concert settings can suppress the spontaneous, emotional energy of music, making performances feel sterile. **In simple terms:** Rigidity dampens musical passion. Key Takeaway Environment shapes artistic experience. Themes music audience formality creativity culture Mood critical melancholic Type critique observation When to use this quote - classical concerts - opera houses - formal recitals - gallery openings Key Concepts aesthetics social dynamics Practical Applications - create relaxed venues - encourage audience interaction Questions to Reflect On - How does venue design affect artistic expression? - Can formality coexist with spontaneity? A Different Perspective Some audiences appreciate decorum, finding focus and reverence in formal settings. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Audience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) [Geometry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/geometry/) [Ill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ill/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Orchestra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/orchestra/) [Passionate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passionate/) [Respectability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/respectability/) [Sobriety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sobriety/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Uninspiring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uninspiring/) ## Related quotes > [One is conscious of no brave and noble earnestness in it, of no generalized passion for intellectual and spiritual adventure, of no organized determination…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/one-is-conscious-of-no-brave-and-noble-earnestness-in-it-of-no/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [When you put the musical in front of an audience, you get to see how the audience reacts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-damiano/when-you-put-the-musical-in-front-of-an-audience-you-get-to-see-how/) [Jennifer Damiano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-damiano/) > [If you're doing a musical, you should be out to give the audience something special, emotional, an uplifting feeling, something that stays with them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lopez/if-you-re-doing-a-musical-you-should-be-out-to-give-the-audience/) [Robert Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lopez/) > [If you're doing a musical, you should be out to give the audience something special, emotional, an uplifting feeling, something that stays with them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lopez/if-you-re-doing-a-musical-you-should-be-out-to-give-the-audience-2/) [Robert Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lopez/) > [Republicans seems to me to be chiefly concerned with holding on to what they have: in society, it's position, or respectability, or what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/republicans-seems-to-me-to-be-chiefly-concerned-with-holding-on-to/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [“The average novel invariably reads like a detective's report. It is drab and tedious because it is never objective.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natsume-s-seki/the-average-novel-invariably-reads-like-a-detective-s-report-it-is/) [Natsume Soseki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natsume-s-seki/) > [If rape or arson, poison or the knife Has wove no pleasing patterns in the stuff Of this drab canvas we accept as life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/if-rape-or-arson-poison-or-the-knife-has-wove-no-pleasing-patterns-in/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The height of the mountaintop is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-height-of-the-mountaintop-is-measured-by-the-drab-drudgery-of-the/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [“Drab?" Soldier yelled. "I'll give you drab. Beat her, would you? Beat my wife? I'll feed your head to the vultures, you snotty little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-hunter/drab-soldier-yelled-i-ll-give-you-drab-beat-her-would-you-beat-my/) [Kim Hunter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-hunter/) > [“If Rome, was a city of vulgar living, had been depressing after Greece, London, a city of the drab dead, was fifty times worse.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/if-rome-was-a-city-of-vulgar-living-had-been-depressing-after-greece/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [My office. It's drab and boring but quiet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/my-office-it-s-drab-and-boring-but-quiet/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [I have been flooded with color on the inside, drab on the outside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-truitt/i-have-been-flooded-with-color-on-the-inside-drab-on-the-outside/) [Anne Truitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-truitt/) > [The writing career is not a romantic one. The writer's life may be colorful, but his work itself is rather drab.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-roberts-rinehart/the-writing-career-is-not-a-romantic-one-the-writer-s-life-may-be/) [Mary Roberts Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-roberts-rinehart/) > [Don't be drab.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-leonard/don-t-be-drab/) [Thomas Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-leonard/) > [Leo knew next to nothing about governesses, save for the drab creatures in novels, who tended to fall in love with the lord of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kleypas/leo-knew-next-to-nothing-about-governesses-save-for-the-drab/) [Lisa Kleypas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kleypas/) ## More by Marya Mannes > [fear has always been a diminisher of life. Whether bred in the bogs of superstition or clothed in the brocades of dogma and ritual,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/fear-has-always-been-a-diminisher-of-life-whether-bred-in-the-bogs-of/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [Timing and arrogance are decisive factors in the successful use of talent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/timing-and-arrogance-are-decisive-factors-in-the-successful-use-of/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [To be at peace with self, to find company and nourishment in self-this would be the test of the free and productive psyche.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/to-be-at-peace-with-self-to-find-company-and-nourishment-in-self-this/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [The process of maturing is an art to be learned, an effort to be sustained. By the age of fifty you have made yourself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/the-process-of-maturing-is-an-art-to-be-learned-an-effort-to-be/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [Lie down and listen to the crabgrass grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/lie-down-and-listen-to-the-crabgrass-grow/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [the overwhelming majority of people who are engaged in the processes of thought and expression are Democrats because the essence of thought is exploration…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/the-overwhelming-majority-of-people-who-are-engaged-in-the-processes/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [The suppression of civil liberties is too many less a matter for horror than the curtailment of the freedom to profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/the-suppression-of-civil-liberties-is-too-many-less-a-matter-for/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [Euthanasia ... is simply to be able to die with dignity at a moment when life is devoid of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/euthanasia-is-simply-to-be-able-to-die-with-dignity-at-a-moment-when/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [To know the good is to react against the bad. Indifference is the mark of deprivation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/to-know-the-good-is-to-react-against-the-bad-indifference-is-the-mark/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [Surely the hold of great music on the listener is precisely this: that the listener is made whole; and at the same time part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/surely-the-hold-of-great-music-on-the-listener-is-precisely-this-that/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [It is privilege of living to be acutely, agonizingly conscious of the moment that is always present and always passing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/it-is-privilege-of-living-to-be-acutely-agonizingly-conscious-of-the/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [When women can cherish the vulnerability of men as much as men can exult in the strength of women, a new breed could lift…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/when-women-can-cherish-the-vulnerability-of-men-as-much-as-men-can/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [I don't think the advertisers have any real idea of their power not only to reflect but to mold society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/i-don-t-think-the-advertisers-have-any-real-idea-of-their-power-not/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [The greatest miracle of all, the human being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/the-greatest-miracle-of-all-the-human-being/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [The art of flirtation is dying. A man and woman are either in love these days or just friends. In the realm of love,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/the-art-of-flirtation-is-dying-a-man-and-woman-are-either-in-love/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) [Explore all 99 Marya Mannes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) ## More Audience quotes > [If the audience likes your work, if they like you, they don't think whether you are married or have children or not. I made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dimple-kapadia/if-the-audience-likes-your-work-if-they-like-you-they-don-t-think/) [Dimple Kapadia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dimple-kapadia/) > [It's those moments, those odd moments that you look for and sometimes by creating this kind of loose atmosphere you find those little moments…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-levinson/it-s-those-moments-those-odd-moments-that-you-look-for-and-sometimes/) [Barry Levinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-levinson/) > [I can skate beautifully. While performing on ice I always try to please the audience and to win as well. Being artistic is very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evgeni-plushenko/i-can-skate-beautifully-while-performing-on-ice-i-always-try-to/) [Evgeni Plushenko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evgeni-plushenko/) > [One of the best moments of any Liars show is hearing the crowd squawk 'We're doomed! We're doomed!' on cue during 'We Fenced Other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-sheffield/one-of-the-best-moments-of-any-liars-show-is-hearing-the-crowd-squawk/) [Rob Sheffield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-sheffield/) > [It's the adrenaline rush you only get from being in front of an audience. It's addictive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raphael-saadiq/it-s-the-adrenaline-rush-you-only-get-from-being-in-front-of-an/) [Raphael Saadiq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raphael-saadiq/) > [If I had to speak in front of a Korean audience, I would be hard pressed to sound other than a little girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/an-na/if-i-had-to-speak-in-front-of-a-korean-audience-i-would-be-hard/) [An Na](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/an-na/) > [The liveness of theater, and the excitement of experiencing it alongside an audience, is something you can't get at home. That makes the theater…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-blaemire/the-liveness-of-theater-and-the-excitement-of-experiencing-it/) [Nick Blaemire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-blaemire/) > [One of the things that touches me most when I play for an audience is that although we may be unable to communicate in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hough/one-of-the-things-that-touches-me-most-when-i-play-for-an-audience-is/) [Stephen Hough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hough/) > [I have to feel the audience. I enjoy that feeling of community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-gahan/i-have-to-feel-the-audience-i-enjoy-that-feeling-of-community/) [Dave Gahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-gahan/) > [When you lived it for years and years and years and seen different characters just get pummeled and squashed because 'I said so,' it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arn-anderson/when-you-lived-it-for-years-and-years-and-years-and-seen-different/) [Arn Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arn-anderson/) > [“During the first few minutes of your presentation, your job is to assure the audience members that you are not going to waste their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-ludwig-and-greg-owen-boger/during-the-first-few-minutes-of-your-presentation-your-job-is-to/) [Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-ludwig-and-greg-owen-boger/) > [Donald Trump is a different ball of wax. I've been trying to say for I don't know how many months now that the traditional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/donald-trump-is-a-different-ball-of-wax-i-ve-been-trying-to-say-for-i/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [I don't think about who the audience is for my books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-2/i-don-t-think-about-who-the-audience-is-for-my-books/) [J. K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-2/) > [I feel I have been playing all primary characters. And if your character forms a connect with the audience, it doesn't matter if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angad-bedi/i-feel-i-have-been-playing-all-primary-characters-and-if-your/) [Angad Bedi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angad-bedi/) > [When I was playing piano, it was like, 'I'm going to write a song using all the white keys.' My music director, who knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tesh/when-i-was-playing-piano-it-was-like-i-m-going-to-write-a-song-using/) [John Tesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-tesh/) [Browse all 9,118 Audience quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/audience/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A musical audience is at best uninspiring, at worst definitely drab. ... 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