Gaetano Donizetti - Quotations

Quotations

• "Ah, by Bacchus, with this aria I shall receive universal applause. People will say to me, “Bravo maestro!”

I, in a very modest manner, shall walk about with bowed head; I’ll have rave reviews…I can become immortal…

My mind is vast, my genius swift...

And at composing, a thunderbolt am I."

(From a poem composed by 14-year-old Gaetano Donizetti)

• "Donizetti, when asked which of his own operas he thought the best, spontaneously replied, 'How can I say which? A father always has a preference for a crippled child, and I have so many.'" (Louis Engel: "From Mozart to Mario", 1886)