Clark is the narrator of "A Wagner Matinée," and the nephew of Georgiana and Howard Carpenter. At the time the story opens, he is living in Boston, but he spent much of his childhood working on his relatives' farm in Red Willow County, Nebraska. It was here that he developed a lasting devotion to his aunt, who not only tutored him in music and literature, but also comforted him whenever his uncle criticized him.

Cather does not reveal many details about Clark, but he is clearly a young man getting his start in the world, since he currently lives in a boardinghouse. He is a careful observer of those around him and has vivid (if not always happy)memories of his childhood; his description of his earlier self as "gangling" and "bashful" paint an image of a physically awkward boy who lived largely in his own head. His appreciation of art, as well as his affectionate pity for Georgiana, also implya sensitive and reflective nature.

"A Wagner Matinée" is largely about Georgiana, Clark's elderly and rather frail aunt. She lives in Red Willow County, Nebraska with her husband, Howard, for whom she gave up her former career as a music teacher in Boston.