Heine Commenting On The Music Of Louis

To Render My Works Properly Requires A Combination Of Extreme Precision And Irresistible Verve, A Regulated Vehemence, A Dreamy Tenderness, And An Almost Morbid Melancholy.

The Trombone Is The True Head Of The Family Of Wind Instruments... It Has All The Serious And Powerful Tones Of Sublime Musical Poetry, From Religious, Calm And Imposing Accents To Savage, Orgiastic Outburst.

Only By Pairing Knowledge With Inspiration Will Art Evolve. Without These Conditions Any Musician Will Remain A Flawed Artist, If One May Speak Of An Artist At All.

It Is Difficult To Put Into Words What I Suffered-the Longing That Seemed To Be Tearing My Heart Out By The Roots, The Dreadful Sense Of Being Alone In An Empty Universe, The Agonies That Thrilled Through Me As If The Blood Were Running Ice-cold Through My Veins, The Disgust With Living, The Impossibility Of Dying. Shakespeare Himself Never Described This Torture; But He Counts It, In Hamlet, Among The Terrible Of All The Evils Of Existence. I Had Stopped Composing; My Mind Seemed To Become Feebler As My Feelings Grew More Intense. I Did Nothing. One Power Was Left To Me-to Suffer.

At Least I Have The Modesty To Admit That Lack Of Modesty Is One Of My Failings.