Hans Richter described himself as a Hungarian by birth, an Austrian citizen and a musician of the German race. As far as England was concerned, he was always the visitor even in his Manchester days, albeit a highly popular one in most quarters. He never accepted English ideals nor sought to identify himself with the English nation. Some thought his inability to master the English language a deliberate attempt to extend his reputation beyond the concert platform and there were plenty of anecdotes among the obituaries. ‘Once he told his cellists to play on the C side’, wrote the Daily News. Another was his remark to a brass player named Booth, who lingered too long over a certain passage. ‘Mr Booze’, he cried, ‘do not lean over that bar so long.’ On a more serious note, two contrasting obituaries appeared, one by Samuel Langford in the Manchester Guardian, the other by Ernest Newman in the Birmingham Daily Post. Having charted the course of Richter's life, each wrote his own appraisal of the conductor's contribution towards England's musical life. Langford called Richter ‘one of the few men who possess a real genius for penetrating the spirit of great music and for communicating his will to those over whom he stood’.