The music literature contains very few authentic statements from great composers about the nature of their creative process and the origins of their works. This makes the book by American music correspondent Arthur M. Abell all the more significant, as it details conversations he had over several years with composers Richard Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Giacomo Puccini, Engelbert Humperdinck, Max Bruch, and Edvard Grieg regarding the nature of inspiration and the physical and mental processes involved in composing. Consistently - in their own words - the interviewed composers express that they consciously distance themselves from the views of the atheistic materialism of their time and regard God solely as the source of their inspirations. Particularly interesting is what Johannes Brahms had to say on these matters during a lengthy conversation with the author and the famous violinist Joseph Joachim.