What a wonderful question, Mimi. It takes some thought to figure it out; I'm not sure I can but it intrigues me. Music is more an emotional than intellectual experience for me, but, as I think about it, I know that there are certain elements that "hook" me into that place where it becomes the entire universe and nothing else exists. As I try to sense what those elements are the melodies of, e.g., Chopin's piano concertos come to mind, and then so many more concertos of all kinds. In those, often very romantic pieces, I think it is the particular line of the melody and then the harmonies that spell out the full-bodied beauty of the movement or of the whole piece. Last night I was listening to the Dvorak Requiem and in this kind of religious music it is much more the dramatic combinaton of the rhythms and the intensity of the chorus as well as the gorgeous music that goes with it all. When I am listening to opera, on the other hand, it is most often the beauty of the voice; there are some voices that I can listen to with intense enjoyment no matter what they are singing. And if I happen to hear a favorite aria being sung by a voice that I don't like, I can't stand it. Come to think of it, that is also true in regard to certain instruments; I can listen to almost anything on the cello but that is not true of all instruments. Thanks for the question. And, I,too, get hooked on certain movements and/or other pieces or fragments thereof. Selma *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html