Sir, - The recent interesting review, and subsequent correspondence, concerning the possible merits or otherwise of the music of Mozart has been shown to me by a friend. I would like, with your permission, to contribute to the debate by offering some comments made by esteemed colleagues who have now, sadly passed on:
Saint-Saens: "What gives 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."
Schubert: "O, Mozart, immortal Mozart, what countless images of a brighter and better world thou hast stamped upon our souls!"
Chopin (his last words): "Play Mozart in memory of me."
Haydn (in a letter to Mozart's father): "I tell you before God, and on my word as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer I know of."
I have searched high and low, but regretfully cannot find any comment by Haydn or the others on the music of Michael Nyman.
-Yours, etc.,
Marley Rise, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.