He should have had a sitcom

German composer Richard Wagner was born today in 1813.

"Wagner had some wonderful moments but awful half hours." -- Rossini.

Well, he was blind, you know

Beethoven gave his first public performance on this day in 1795, in Vienna.

"Beethoven always sounded to me like the upsetting of bags of nail, with here and there an also dropped hammer." -- John Ruskin.

Striking him right in his well-tempered clavicle

This is the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach, born in 1685.

"Classical music is the kind we keep hoping will turn into a tune." -- Kin Hubbard.

Like something stuck to your shoe?

W. S. Gilbert, the English librettist who was one-half of Gilbert and Sullivan, was born today in 1836. He wrote:

"Man is nature's sole mistake."