John G. Deacon ([log in to unmask]) quoted:

>"Richard Wagner wrote music which is better than it sounds." -Mark
>Twain

This is often attributed to Twain, but the quote I have (from Twain's
autobiography) is "I have been told that Wagner's music is better than
it sounds".  Apparently it was humourist Bill Nye who told him.

However, Twain did write (of Parsifal, in A Tramp Abroad): "The first act
of three occupied three hours and I enjoyed it in spite of the singing."

Of a performance of the *same* opera (hmmm) Neville Cardus wrote in
1939 "The evening became tedious rather sooner than usual."

Deryk Barker
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