Saint-Saens on Bach and Mozart

“What gives Sebastian Bach and Mozart a place apart is that these two great expressive composers never sacrificed form to expression. As high as their expression may soar, their musical form remains supreme and all-sufficient.”

– Camille Saint-Saëns, from a letter to Camille Bellaigue, 1907
Cited in:
Fisk, Josiah (ed.) (1997) Composers On Music: Eight Centuries of Writings. Boston: Northeastern University Press, p.1443.


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