Question

for those who love music by axel munthe (adapted) for those who love music is one of the short memoirs and essays from axel munthes book vagaries. in this story, the author recounts his memories of his interactions with an organ player and his monkey who performed in the streets to make money. (1) i had engaged him by the year. twice a week he came and went through his whole repertoire, and lately, out of sympathy for me, he would play the miserere of the trovatore¹, which was his show piece, twice over. he stood there in the middle of the street looking steadfastly up at my windows while he played, and when he had finished he would take off his hat with an *addio, signori². (2) it is well known that the barrel - organ, like the violin, gets a fuller and more sympathetic tone the older it is. the old artist had an excellent instrument, not of the modern noisy type which imitates a whole orchestra with flutes and bells and beats of drums, but a melancholy old - fashioned barrel - organ which knew how to lend a dreamy mystery to the gayest allegretto³, and in whose proudest tempo di marcia⁴ there sounded an unmistakable undertone of resignation. and in the tenderer pieces of the repertoire, where the melody, muffled and staggering like a cracked old human voice, groped its way amongst the rusty pipes of the treble, then there was a trembling in the bass like suppressed select the correct answer. read the sentence from paragraph 2. it is well known that the barrel - organ, like the violin, gets a fuller and more sympathetic tone the older it is. what feeling does sympathetic connote in this sentence? a. comforting b. pitying c. strong d. old

Explanation:

To determine the connotation of "sympathetic" in the sentence, we analyze the context. The sentence compares the barrel - organ and the violin, stating that as they get older, their tone becomes "fuller and more sympathetic". We then analyze each option:

• Option A: A "comforting" tone makes sense for a musical instrument's tone, especially as it ages. A fuller and comforting tone could be associated with the warm, pleasant sound an older instrument might produce.
• Option B: "Pitying" is a human - like emotion and does not fit the description of a musical instrument's tone.
• Option C: "Strong" is not the right connotation here. The sentence is about the quality of the tone, not its strength.
• Option D: "Old" describes the instrument, not the tone. The tone is being described in terms of its quality, not its age.

So, "sympathetic" in this context connotes a comforting tone.

Answer:

A. comforting