The Mendelssohn Noise

I like to believe that the music we play really does communicate in a way that all people can understand and appreciate, regardless of their knowledge about it (or lack thereof), context, background, age, first language etc. etc. I really do think there is something common and viscerally meaningful in it. And I'm not just referring to a shared impression that it is nice or enjoyable. I'm talking about real and specific emotional content that all people inately understand.

With my background in Neuroscience, I appreciate how incredibly far we are from being able to demonstrate my little theory scientifically. However, I'd like to offer some anecdotal evidence. I call it the Mendelssohn noise. It's a combination of a little sigh and the beginning of a chuckle. Just barely voiced... amused, satisfied. After a decent performance of a Mendelssohn scherzo, audiences everywhere do it. In unison! I'm quite sure it would be impossible to elicit the Mendelssohn noise with words alone, and it's hard to describe in words exactly what this noise means. However, whatever this meaning is, audiences of every sort in a vast range of places get IT out of Mendelssohn scherzos with incredible consistency.