After Rossini Dies, Who Will

I Change Many Things, Discard Others, And Try Again And Again Until I Am Satisfied; Then, In My Head, I Being To Elaborate The Work In Its Breadth, Its Narrowness, Its Height, Its Depth...i Hear And See The Image In Front Of Me From Every Angle As If It Had Been Cast And Only The Labour Of Writing It Down Remains.

Tones Sound, And Roar And Storm About Me Until I Have Set Them Down In Notes.

Art! Who Comprehends Her? With Whom Can One Consult Concerning This Great Goddess?

Richard Wagner Commenting On The Music Of Ludvig Van Beethoven: He Was A Titan, Wrestling With The Gods.

You Ask Me Where I Get My Ideas. That I Cannot Tell You With Certainty. They Come Unsummoned, Directly, Indirectly - I Could Seize Them With My Hands - Out In The Open Air, In The Woods, While Walking, In The Silence Of The Nights, At Dawn, Excited By Moods Which Are Translated By The Poet Into Words, By Me Into Tones That Sound And Roar And Storm About Me Till I Have Set Them Down In Notes.