"[T]he other day, after having played the last movement of my [Brahms] C Minor Quartet, in which a friend detected a certain resemblance to Mendelssohn's Trio in C Minor, without realizing that what, there, is theme itself, is with me simply an accompanying figure, my friend asked me,—in all seriousness, mind,—'Now, am I not right : you wanted to show what you could do with that theme?' How silly! "