>[Das Rheingold] is the creation of a true giant in the history of art, comparable in his innovation only to Michelangelo. I can now understand Liszt's assessment of the great Wagner when he says it rises above all our epoch's art like Mont Blanc over the Alps. In music there is nobody to approach Wagner.
- Grieg

>For a long time Wagner was the only major composer of the German school. This man of genius, from whose overwhelming influence not one of the European composers of the second half of our century has been able to escape, stood there in splendid isolation, so to speak. [...] The only place where there is true life is in Bayreuth, in this centre of the Wagner cult, and whatever our attitude may be to the music of Wagner, it is impossible to deny its power, its fundamental significance and influence on all contemporary music.
- Tchaikovsky

>You know, about Wagner there is much to write and say – and you can criticize much – but he is undefeatable! What Wagner did none had done before him and nor can anyone take it away! Music will go on its way, leaving Wagner behind, but Wagner will remain exactly like the statue of that poet from whom they still learn at school today. Homer! And such a Homer will be Wagner.
- Dvorak


Accept that Wagner is king