Before I compose a piece, I walk round it several times, accompanied by myself.
The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest.
I am by far your superior, but my notorious modesty prevents me from saying so.
I have never written a note I didn't mean.
Opera is a musical scenery, a musical atmosphere in which the characters move and talk.
I came into the world very young, in an age that was very old.