“When Liszt first began as Kapellmeister in Weimar (1842), it astonished the orchestra that he said: ‘O please, gentlemen, a little bluer, if you please! This tone type requires it!’ Or: ‘That is a deep violet, please, depend on it! Not so rose!’ First the orchestra be- lieved Liszt just joked; more later they got accustomed to the fact that the great musician seemed to see colors there, where there were only tones.”
— Anonymous, as quoted in Friedrich Mahling