This lifelong learning program about Mark Twain and music will include discussion by Professor of English Lana A. Whited, with musical selections performed by Fair and Austin Robey, followed by lunch.
While Mark Twain is celebrated for his razor-sharp wit and literary realism, less well known is his lifelong interest in music, spanning both American popular music and the European grand operatic tradition. Influences upon him and his writing included spirituals and the Delta blues, the Presbyterian church, contemporary songwriters, classical composers such as Richard Wagner, and the habits of piano-playing and singing that filled his household in Hartford, Connecticut.
Twain’s letters, personal journals, and novels such as Huckleberry Finn and Pudd’nhead Wilson reflect how Twain used music as a tool for social commentary, character development, nostalgia, and humor. Throughout Twain’s public career, his writing about music illustrates the same key tension existing between Samuel Langhorne Clemens and his famous persona, Mark Twain–between the serious writer/critic and the amateur, or “mucker” (as he termed it). For example, he both enjoyed opera and wrote, “I have attended operas, whenever I could not help it, for fourteen years now; I am sure I know of no agony comparable to the listening to an unfamiliar opera.” The evolution of Twain’s tastes and attitudes concerning music explain how his biographer Albert Bigelow Paine, who had earlier found the author “wanting in artistic taste,” could write that by age 70, Twain had “a passion for music.”
Presenter Bios:
Professor of English Lana Whited, the longest-serving full-time member of the faculty at Ferrum College, wrote her master’s thesis on Mark Twain and music at the College of William and Mary. She is the author and editor of essays and books on fantasy literature, and author of the scholarly book about true crime fiction, Murder, In Fact.
Fair Robey enjoyed a long career teaching music in the Franklin County Public Schools and currently serves as music director at Saint Peter’s-in-the-Mountains Episcopal Church. She is a member of her family’s popular local band, The Robeys. She has served as accompanist for many productions of the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre at Ferrum College.
Austin Robey is Director of Admissions at Mountaintop Montessori School in Charlottesville and a member of his family’s popular local band, The Robeys.
Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Location: Phoebe Needles Center, 732 Turners Creek Road, Callaway, VA 24067
Doors Open: 9:30 AM
Program Begins: 10:00 AM
Lunch Served: Noon
For more info: 540.483.1518 or events@phoebeneedles.org or visit the Adult Programs tab at phoebeneedles.org. Click ticket link for this event to purchase tickets!
