Joseph Conrad in London - 16 September, 1895, 04:30 PM

from Letter from Joseph Conrad to Edward Garnett 17 September 1895, Gillingham St, London SW :

It is my painful duty to inform you of the sad death of Mr Peter Willems [the main character in Conrad's novel "An Outcast of the Islands" 1896] late of Amsterdam and Macassar who has been murdered on the 16th inst while the sun shone joyously and the barrel organ sang on the pavement the abominable Intermezzo of the ghastly Cavalleria.
cite as

Joseph Conrad, Letter from Joseph Conrad to Edward Garnett 17 September 1895, Gillingham St, London SW . In Laurence Davies and Frederick R. Karl (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad vol 1 1861-1997, volume 1 (Cambridge, ). https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1386960598538 accessed: 15 November, 2024

location of experience: London

Listeners

Joseph Conrad
Master mariner and writer
1857-1924

Listening to

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Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
written by Pietro Mascagni
performed by Barrel organ grinder

Experience Information

Date/Time 16 September, 1895, 04:30 PM
Medium live
Listening Environment in private, indoors, solitary

Notes

Conrad was writing to his friend the publisher's reader, Edward Garnett, soon after finishing this novel (which like 'Cavalleria Rusticana', was 'a story of illicit passion wih a bloody ending', see fn.3,p.245 of source .Presumably others in the same street (Gillingham Street, London SW behind Victoria Station) and in neighbouring houses would also heard this music.

Originally submitted by Helen Chambers on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 20:46:31 +0000