Life — January 28, 1926 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a satirical illustration from *Life* magazine (page 5) depicting "Dream of the Popular Song Writer Who Made a Fortune Jazzing the Great Masters." The image shows a sleeping figure (the song writer) dreaming of classical composers or "great masters" (appearing as ghostly figures in the background) observing his work with apparent disapproval. The dreamer is shown clutching what appears to be sheet music with jazz-style notations. The satire targets the early 20th-century practice of composers adapting or "jazzing up" classical music for popular commercial success. The joke is that while these song writers profited enormously from modernizing the masters' works, the composers themselves (depicted as stern observers) would be dismayed by such vulgar appropriation of their serious art.