One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the only musician who had as much knowledge asgenius, and as much genius as knowledge.
Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour.
Music is a kind of harmonious language.
If Beethoven is a prodigy of man, Bach is a miracle of God.
Nothing primes inspiration more than necessity, whether it be the presence of a copyist waiting for your work or the prodding of an impresario tearing his hair.