Rossini Quotes

“The terms that Sforza Cesarini offered Rossini, 400 Roman Scudi, were not ungenerous, though it must have been galling for Rossini to see the Figaro, Luigi Zamboni, getting almost twice as much, and the Almaviva, Manuel Garcia, being offered three times the amount. Of the first-night cast, only the 'altro buffo', Bartolomeo Botticelli, who played Bartolo, and the 'seconda donna', Elisabetta Lowselet, who played Berta, were paid less than the composer.”

“The (extremely lavish set) was created by a transparency, a fine gauze, finely painted. According to the theatre accounts, it cost 241 ducats, 91 ducats more than Rossini was paid for the music.”

“Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour.”

“How wonderful opera would be if there were no singers.”

“One cannot judge 'Lohengrin' from a first hearing and I certainly do not intend to hear it a second time.”