'Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music' (Rossini)

'Rossini wrote the first and last acts of William Tell. God wrote the second' (Donizetti)

'Who would not gladly listen to Rossini's flights of fancy, to the piquant titillation of his melodies? But who could be so blind as to attribute to him dramatic truth' (C M von Weber)

'Andre Previn once asked William whom he considered to be the greatest compser. Without hesitation, he said Rossini' (Suzanna Walton, wife of Sir William)

'Rossini addressed letters to his mother...... To the mother of the famous composer' (Robert Browning)

"Wagner has some wonderful moments . . . and some perfectly dreadful three-quarters of an hour!"

Yes indeed - famous quotation by Rossini about Wagner, but its quarters of an hour:-

'Monsieur Wagner a de beaux moments, mais de mauvais quart d'heures'

I would have put this in when I got round to doing a thread on Wagner.

Mea culpa etc. The original French is somehow more succinct.

Actually, Thank you: It's good (seriously) to be put right on that: I don't mind boring people with arcane and obscure bits of knowledge but I like to do it accurately!!

Rob