 The glorification of instrumental music is paired with the condemnation of imitation. Extra-musical imagery, however, is not altogether banned, at least on the listener’s side: much like Wackenroder, Hoffmann helps himself to fanciful descriptions of music, and uses these in order to bring out the differences among the three greatest representatives of the Viennese School. Thus, Haydn “leads us into vast green woodlands” (Hoffman 1813 [1950 [776]), Mozart “leads us into the heart of the spirit realm” (1813 [1950: 777]), whereas Beethoven’s instrumental music “opens up to us also the realm of the monstrous and the immeasurable” (1813 [1950: 777]). Hoffman’s essay also contains a version of the ineffability thesis: