"Mr. Van Vechten has a liking for the queer, the new, the perverse, and the personal. He is as gossipy as Samuel Pepys, Jr. (and is in the way of being a Pepys in the musical world).... Another distinguishing characteristic of Mr. Van Vechten is his forehandedness. He has a perfect genius for being on the side of the street where the car stops--which for most of us is the other side.... He in short is doing his best to throw a bomb into that parlour of musicians described by Charles Lamb, in which they sat all silent and all damned. He apparently sees no reason why music should not be a cheerful business."--N. P. D. in "The New York Globe." "Carl Van Vechten is now in fair alignment with James Huneker and H. L. Mencken in the field in which both have done their most entertaining work.... 'Interpreters and Interpretations' is bright, lively, snappy reading; no part is dull."--Frederick Donaghey in "The Chicago Tribune." "In these papers some of the questions of the day are spicily and fearlessly discussed. The last paper is misnamed. It should have been called 'Why Some Musical Critics are Not Liked by the Author of This Book.'"--H. T. Finck in "The New York Evening Post." "Carl Van Vechten is always an intelligent and stimulating critic. You may not always agree with his point of view, but it is an original point of view and he always sets you a-thinking. He shakes up your conventional ideas on art and music in 'Interpreters and Interpretations,' a vivacious and entertaining book. Nothing better has come our way since James Huneker's books ceased being events in our life."--"The Brooklyn Eagle." "Mr. Van Vechten is always stimulating, because he has a mind which functions on a vast amount of material, and the ability to express himself incisively. He praises with discrimination, when he praises; and when he hits, he hits hard and with a manifest endeavour to be fair.... Mr. Van Vechten writes live criticism which is more than most music critics can do; his ideals are the highest; and great art does not suffer from his pen, but is made more secure of place by his discriminating praise."--W. K. Kelsey in "The Detroit News-Tribune." "Carl Van Vechten opens a new field of adventure for the music-lover. Of the many biographers of musicians none has entered into so close an intimacy with the singer and dealt with the mental grip of her artistic conception of character."--"Reedy's Mirror."