Melodies that none of us had heard before

"Paul was in the habit of whistling continuously when he walked across the fields. He was an amazingly good whistler; the sound he produced was marvellously rich, exactly like a flute's. And even when he was climbing a mountain, he would with apparent ease whistle whole runs and ties in connected sequence, not just anything, but fine, thoroughly composed passages and melodies that none of us had heard before, and which infallibly gave a wrench to the heart whenever, years later, I rediscovered them in a Bellini opera or a Brahms sonata"

- WG Sebald, The Emigrants