17 h 17 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 17 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a young woman owe her gift—and what must she give up to follow it?
In Moonstone, Colorado, sand fills the streets and the wind never rests. Thea Kronborg, a quiet minister’s daughter, has a stubborn gift for music. Professor Wunsch, a troubled German musician, gives her lessons that reach beyond the railroad town. But to train seriously, she must decide whether to leave for Chicago.
Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark follows the slow, demanding work of becoming an artist. Dr. Howard Archie offers loyal friendship; railroad conductor Ray Kennedy believes in Thea’s talent. Yet encouragement alone cannot carry her. She needs teachers, money, solitude, and the strength to face what ambition asks of friendship, comfort, and love.
What you’ll discover
- A calling that persists Follow Thea as she struggles to give her stubborn musical gift room to grow.
- Music beyond the lessons Discover how Wunsch and Andor Harsanyi help Thea understand what serious artistic work demands.
- The West as a presence Enter a world of sandy streets, open plains, desert, and canyon that shapes Thea.
- People behind the artist Meet friends and teachers whose care supports Thea, even as their hopes complicate her path.
- The cost of ambition Consider what happens when a calling asks more than comfort, friendship, or love can easily give.
Who will love it
Readers who love stories of young people finding their calling will enjoy this novel, especially those drawn to music, teachers, railroads, and the American West.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fevered child meets her first true friend
- A drunken old teacher recognizes her talent
- Moonstone is a town of many worlds
- A railroad conductor opens up the desert
- Success and loss come to the girl early
- Chicago brings poverty, a new teacher, and music
- Cheap success makes a lonely, angry student
- A canyon of ruined houses gives her a new self
- Art takes a person away from her family
- Six parts, a shell and a song
Who’s who
- Thea KronborgA preacher's daughter in Moonstone with a strong will and a remarkable voice, who wants to make something of herself in music.
- Dr. Howard ArchieA kindly Moonstone physician in an unhappy marriage, who saves Thea's life as a child and stays her lifelong friend.
- Professor WunschA worn, drinking German music teacher who recognizes Thea's gift and wants her to find the spirit behind the notes.
- Ray KennedyA freight-train conductor and self-taught freethinker who loves the Southwest and hopes someday to marry Thea.
- Spanish JohnnyA gifted Mexican painter and mandolin player in Moonstone, drawn to singing and to running away.
- Andor HarsanyiA Hungarian pianist in Chicago who teaches Thea and sees that her real instrument is her voice.
- Fred OttenburgA cheerful brewer's son and music lover who finds Thea engagements and sends her to a ranch in Arizona.
- Tillie KronborgThea's romantic, talkative aunt, who believes in her niece's future long before anyone else does.
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Il canto dell'allodola
by Willa Cather · 1915
In Colorado, a doctor stitches a feverish girl into a flaxseed poultice, and she begins to breathe.
Medium level10–20 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
What would it take for a girl from a sand-blown Colorado railroad town to sing on the greatest stage in New York? The book opens on a winter night in Moonstone.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A fevered child meets her first true friend
The story begins on a snowy night in Moonstone. Dr. Archie walks to the parsonage with Peter Kronborg, the preacher, who is about to become a father for the seventh time.
After the birth, he hears hard breathing from a room in the wing of the house. There he finds Thea, with two yellow braids and blazing eyes. Her father forgot to mention her cold. The doctor is angry at the neglect and moves her into the warm parlor. He wraps her chest in a hot flaxseed plaster and sews it closed. For four days he fears she may die, and then she recovers.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1915
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 11 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Cather, Willa. The Song of the Lark. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-song-of-the-lark.
Cather, W. (2026). The song of the lark. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-song-of-the-lark (Original work published 1915)
Cather, Willa. The Song of the Lark. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-song-of-the-lark.
@book{cather2026song,
author = {Cather, Willa},
title = {The Song of the Lark},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-song-of-the-lark},
note = {First published 1915}
}
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What is The Song of the Lark about?
It follows Thea Kronborg, a minister's daughter from a small Colorado town, as she grows from a gifted child into a serious singer, studying in Chicago, resting in Arizona, and heading toward a career in opera.
Who is Thea Kronborg based on?
Cather drew on the careers of real opera singers of her time, especially the Swedish-American soprano Olive Fremstad, but Thea is an invented character with her own Moonstone childhood and family.
What does the title The Song of the Lark mean?
It comes from a painting Thea loves at the Art Institute in Chicago, showing a young girl in a field at dawn. The picture stands for hope, longing, and the first call of art.
The author
Willa Cather
1873–1947 · American novelist
Willa Cather was an American novelist celebrated for her portraits of prairie life on the Great Plains. My Ántonia, her 1918 story of a Bohemian immigrant girl in Nebraska, remains one of the most beloved American novels of its era.
More by Willa Cather
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