115. “Of Emanuel Bach’s clavier works I have only a few, yet they must be not only a real delight to every true artist, but also serve him for study purposes; and it is for me a great pleasure to play works that I have never seen, or seldom see, for real art lovers.”
(July 26, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig in ordering all the
scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs.)
116. “See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of Haydn. I received it as a gift today, and it gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant hut, in which so great a man was born!”
(Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel.)
117. “I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death.”
(February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him his
essay on Mozart’s “Requiem.”)
118. “Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything like that!”
(To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart’s concerto in C-minor at a
concert in the Augarten.)
119. “‘Die Zauberflote’ will always remain Mozart’s greatest work, for in it he for the first time showed himself to be a German musician. ‘Don Juan’ still has the complete Italian cut; besides our sacred art ought never permit itself to be degraded to the level of a foil for so scandalous a subject.”
(A remark reported by Seyfried.)