Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.

It is quite untrue that British people don't appreciate music. They may not understand it but they absolutely love the noise it makes.

If an opera cannot be played by an organ grinder, it's not going to achieve immortality.

Beethoven's last quartets were written by a deaf man and should only be listened to by a deaf man.

We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be good enough to keep in touch now and again.

No woman is worth the loss of a night's sleep.

The sound of a harpsichord - two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm.