Beethoven was ahead of the times, Bach behind them.

I suppose it never occurs to these people that a man might just want to write a piece of music.

The art of music above all the other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation.

Beethoven was ahead of the times, Bach behind them.

The great men of music close periods; they do not inaugurate them. The pioneer work, the finding of new paths, is left to smaller men.

Wagner used to read the libretti of his operas to his friends; I am glad I was not there.

Two years of close association with some of the best (as well as some of the worst) tunes in the world was a better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues.