No wonder they weren't able to sell these devices effectively...

Quote by Tchaikovsky: "I've just been playing through some of the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard . . ."

Quote by Decca (I think) executive on hearing the demo disc of a group calling themselves The Beatles: "We don't like their sound. Guitar groups are on the way out."

"It is well proven that it is absolutely impossible for a man to rise up into the air, or at least to stay afloat in it." (a French academic, 1782, one year before the first manned balloon flight)

"Introduction of railroads would be harmful to public health, because any movement faster than 25 mph would invariably cause concussions and madness in the passengers, and vertigo in the public by the railroad. If it would be introduced, it would be necessary to hide it in between two fences, as high as the engine and the cars." (British Royal Medicine Council (most probably a bad translation), 1837)

"I propose the patent office to be closed down. Everything has already been invented and nothing new can ever be found." (the director of the patent office in Washington, 1832)

And finally: "The President of the Academy is moreover obliged to contribute, with all of his powers, to extermination of all werewolves, gnomes, dragons, lake-maids and will-o-wisps. To effectively convince the common people for this noble pursuit, he shall offer the reward of six tolars* for finding any and all of those monsters, be it found in pits, caves, holes or lakes." (From the founding documents of Academy of Sciences in Berlin, 1700 (!!) )

(By the way, Brahms was effectively trying to "bring back some order to music" when people like Wagner, Schönberg, Debussy, etc. were pushing Romantism to its limits or working to replace it with something else. So for many people Brahms was the one who was going backwards, and he was a good target for various "hates".