Article (misc)  (11 Dec 2010)  
 
Percy Wright Autobiography Volume II page 477

It is the only rose that can properly be called a bicolor that is sufficiently hardy for general culture on the prairies, in spite of the fact that the red of Hansa tends to dominate the yellow of Hazeldean. In fact, it could almost be called a tricolor, since the blue tint in Hansa is inherited too, and this, in combination with red and yellow, results in some greyish tones in Musician. It is enormously floriferous, and a unique and very beautiful shrub when it blooms in late June. It shares enough of the early blooming of Hazeldean to escape most of the curculio beetles, although not quite so many as Hazeldean does. I still have only four or five plants of Musician, which does not bud on Multiflora any more easily than Hazeldean does. I have been trying to give priority to the propagation of Hazeldean, and that's why progress in multiplying Musician has been so agonizingly slow. I must make a bigger effort to propagate these two, and to do it as soon as possible."

Article (misc)  (22 Jun 1971)  
 
Personal correspondence - Percy Wright to Walter Schowalter:
In general, I am disappointed with my results when I cross a diploid with a tetraploid to produce a triploid rose. However, I have two good triploids: (1) Ruth, which is a Rugosa hybrid x Gallica, and (2) Musician, which is Hansa x Hazeldean. I had to raise a population of 300+ to get Musician, & 298 were quite worthless. The 299th was a good rose (named Regina) but I lost it accidentally.

Book  (1969)  Page(s) 120-122.  
 
I once bred from a valuable tetraploid yellow rose by putting its pollen on the rugosa hybrid 'Hansa,' and secured more than 300 seedlings. Both parents had double flowers, and yet, out of the whole 300 plus, only two had truly double flowers, of which only one was regarded as worth saving (my bicolor rose 'Musician').

Book  (1967)  Page(s) 46.  
 
Some All-Canadian Roses
by Fred Blakeney, Victoria, B.C.
Mr. Percy Wright of Saskatoon, Sask., must be considered one of the foremost hybridizers of species and near species roses in North America. He has been working on these roses for many years, and knows the reactions of various hardy roses when crossed with species roses.
His objective has always been to produce worthwhile garden roses that are hardy enough to withstand the extremely low temperatures of the Prairies in winter. [...]
Here is a list of Mr. Wright's originations in chronological order of introduction:
1953 "Musician", a very unexpected colour for such a hardy rose. It is a bicolour red and yellow, double, and of good size.

Book  (1960)  Page(s) 117-118.  
 
In "The Inheritance of Color In Hardy Shrubs," Percy H. Wright wrote:
...in the search for hardy bicolors, I crossed Hansa diploid with Hazeldean pollen....some of the offspring were satisfactory...The best of these Hansa-Hazeldean crosses has been named Musician, and is a strongly colored bicolor, though with the red dominating the yellow. All of these Hansa-Hazeldean descendants fade quickly....In this cross I also noted another curious phenomenon. These bicolors contain genes for all three of the primary colors, red, yellow and blue, and so have an unmistakable grey tone ...