In music the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear, but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.

Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music and who excelled at all the musical genres of his era, was born this day in 1756.