Studies of musical quotation generally downplay the possible parallels with linguistic quotation, and ignore the specialized debate around quotation in analytical philosophy. Basic to this debate is the idea that we can articulate (‘mention’) x without truly saying (‘using’) x. A quoted expression is set apart within the regular discourse in which it is embedded, and as a replication of its source refers back to its original context. Similar patterns of reference, replication and embedding can be shown to contribute to the discursive and grammatical features of European music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.