Teaching

Josephus: “I come to you, venerable master, in order to be introduced to the rules and principles of music.”
Aloysius: “You want, then, to learn the art of composition?”
Josephus: “Yes.”
Aloysius: “But are you not aware that this study is like an immense ocean, not to be exhausted even in the lifetime of a Nestor? You are indeed taking on yourself a heavy task, a burden greater than Aetna. If it is in any case most difficult to choose a life work – sine upon the choice, whether it be right or wrong, will depend the good or bad fortune of the rest of one’s life – how much care and foresight must he who would enter upon this art employ before he dared to decide. For musicians and poets are born such. You must try to remember whether even in childhood you felt a strong natural inclination to this art and whether you were deeply moved by the beauty of concord.
Josephus: Yes, most deeply. Even before I could reason, I was overcome by the force of this strange enthusiasm and I turned all my thought and feelings to music. And now the burning desire to understand it possesses me, drives me almost against my will, and day and night lovely melodies seem to sound around me. Therefore I think I no longer have reason to doubt my inclination. Nor do the difficulties of the work discourage me, and I hope that with the help of good health I shall be able to master it. I once heard a wise man say: Study is pleasure rather than a task. […]
Aloysius: “I am delighted to have found just such a young student as I should wish…”

[Fux - Gradus Ad Parnassum, 1725, translated, A. Mann]