Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration.
Ernest Newman

I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
Franz Liszt

I grew up taking piano lessons and liking Wagner when I was in second grade.
Tom Verlaine

I love Wagner, but the music I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws.
Charles Baudelaire

It always makes me sad when I think of how I saw Wagner wasting his vitality, not only by singing their parts to some of his artists, but acting out the smallest details, and of how few they were who were responsive to his wishes.
Anton Seidl

Mr. Wagner has beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour.
Gioachino Rossini

One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time.
Gioachino Rossini

Please write music like Wagner, only louder.
Samuel Goldwyn

Richard Wagner, a musician who wrote music which is better than it sounds.
Richard Wagner

Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour.
Gioachino Rossini

Wagner is a composer who has beautiful moments but awful quarter hours.
Gioachino Rossini

We've been listening to Wagner, which is so great.
Bernadette Peters

When I'm alone at home, I really prefer to listen to Wagner's orchestral music rather than any vocal music. I find it illuminating not to have to pay attention to voices in the recordings.
Kiri Te Kanawa