My mind and fingers have worked like the damned. Homer, the Bible, Plato, Locke, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Beethoven, Bach, Hummel, Mozart, Weber are all around me. I study them. I devour them with fury.

My mind and fingers have worked like the damned. Homer, the Bible, Plato, Locke, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Beethoven, Bach, Hummel, Mozart, Weber are all around me. I study them. I devour them with fury.

Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.

Broad paths are open to every endeavour, and a sympathetic recognition is assured to every one who consecrates his art to the divine services of a conviction of a consciousness.

I carry a deep sadness of the heart which must now and then break out in sound.

Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.

Oral musical traditions are rooted in assured and scrupulous faith.