Gioacchino Rossini cytaty

„Płakałem w życiu dwa razy: raz, kiedy umarła mi matka, i drugi, gdy na moich oczach kelner upuścił indyka z truflami do jeziora Como.”

odpowiedź na pytanie o przyczynę porzucenia komponowania oper.

„Pozdrawiam znajomych kompozytorów, których muzykę rozpoznaję w pańskiej symfonii.”

Źródło: Janusz Ekiert, Czy wiesz? Zagadki muzyczne, Warszawa 1995, wyd. Alfa, s. 41, 191.

„Kto zna jedną moją operę, zna wszystkie.”

gdy młody kompozytor grał na fortepianie swą kompozycję, by Rossini ją ocenił, a ten co chwila uchylał kapelusza; cytat przypisywany.
Źródło: Janusz Ekiert, Czy wiesz? Zagadki muzyczne, Warszawa 1995, wyd. Alfa, s. 73.

“Simple melody and variety in rhythm.”

Źródło: Janusz Ekiert, Czy wiesz? Zagadki muzyczne, Warszawa 1995, wyd. Alfa, s. 42, 192.

Gioacchino Rossini: Cytaty po angielsku

“Give me the laundress' bill and I will set to music even that.”

Melodia semplice e varietà nel ritmo.
His motto for Italian music, formulated in a letter to Filippo Filippi, August 26, 1868; Luca Somigli Legitimizing the Artist (2003) p. 103.
Often misquoted as "Simple melody – clear rhythm!"

“Music is a kind of harmonious language.”

Datemi il conto della lavandaia e vi metterò in musica anche quello.
Indro Montanelli L'Italia giacobina e carbonara, Rizzoli, Milano 1972, p. 612.

“This little composition, which is, alas, the last mortal sin of my old age.”

Zanolini, Biografia di Gioachino Rossini (1875)

“Monsieur Wagner has good moments, but awful quarters of an hour!”

Cette petite composition qui est, hélas, le dernier péché mortel de ma vieillesse.
Introductory note to the Petite Messe Solennelle. Translation from Justin Wintle (ed.) Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture (2002) vol. 2, p. 527.

“I take him [Beethoven] twice a week, Haydn four times, and Mozart every day. You will tell me that Beethoven is a Colossus who often gives you a dig in the ribs, whilst Mozart is always adorable; it is that the latter had the chance of going very young to Italy, at a time when they still sang well.”

Monsieur Wagner a de beaux moments, mais de mauvais quart d'heures.
Letter to Emile Naumann, April 1867, quoted in E Naumann Italienische Tondichter (1883) vol. 4, p. 5. Translation from The Riverside Dictionary of Biography (2005) p. 689.

“All genres are good,
Except the boring one.”

Je le prends deux fois par semaine, Haydn quatre fois et Mozart tous les jours. Vous me direz, Beethoven est un colosse, qui vous donne souvent des coups de poing dans les côtes, tandisque Mozart est toujours adorable. C'est que lui a eu la chance d'aller très jeune en Italie à un époque, où l'on chantait encore bien.
Alfred Christlieb Kalischer Beethoven und seine Zeitgenossen (1908) p. 83. Translation from Charlotte Moscheles (trans. A. D. Coleridge) Life of Moscheles (1873) vol. 2, p. 275.

“Dear God, here it is finished, this poor little Mass. Is this sacred music which I have written or music of the devil? I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. A little science, a little heart, that's all. Be blessed, then, and admit me to Paradise.”

“Wait until the evening before opening night. Nothing primes inspiration more than necessity, whether it be the presence of a copyist waiting for your work or the prodding of an impresario tearing his hair. In my time, all the impresarios in Italy were bald at thirty.”

Bon Dieu; la voilà terminée, cette pauvre petite messe. Est-ce bien de la musique sacrée que je viens de faire, ou bien de la sacré musique ? J'étais né pour l'opera buffa, tu le sais bien! Peu de science, un peu de coeur, tout est là. Sois donc béni et accorde-moi le Paradis.
Epigraph to his Petite Messe Solennelle (1863). Translation from Emanuele Senici (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Rossini (2004) p. 23.