"My Verklärte Nacht, written before the beginning of this century–hence a work of my first period, has made me a kind of reputation. [...] a part from Verklärte Nacht which, at the time of the first performance of this work (1901) sounded so rough that people said: 'It sounds as if an orchestra playing Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde had become confused and mixed up.' [...] And so the first performance of my Verklärte Nacht ended in a riot and in actual fights. And not only did some persons in the audience utter their opinions with their fists, but critics also used their fists instead of their pens. So one wrote: 'This sextet seemed to me like a calf with six feet, such as one secs often at a fair.' Six feet, he said, because there were six players. But he forgot that six players possess twelve feet. And he also forgot that in this piece there also appeared parts of which everyone, even at this time, could have approved–as, for example."

- Arnold Schönberg