Ofelia Mazzoni

““I never heard her speak of triumphs or fame—only of the battles she had fought, and even during her peak years, of the disappointments and the boos she accepted with humble endurance from the audience—acknowledged as sovereign—even when they failed to appreciate the innovations in her repertoire.””

““The comic mask suited her face just as much as the tragic one: a face well sculpted, with muscles made elastic and firm by artistic discipline, a strong brow, vast and flashing eyes, strong and well-set teeth—bright and intact, as rarely seen in one of mature age.””

““Writing tries to represent—with conventional signs—the spoken word, which, as we know, exists before it is written.”

““To perform a piece of music means to awaken the written notes, giving each its particular life; to reconstruct, in a way perceptible to all, the dream of harmony that the composer fixed with a series of conventional signs—signs which are mute to the eyes of the untrained.”

“Autumn, crackling death of leaves… | hope dressed in melancholy, | your sister Poetry gazes upon you | and dissolves her burden in your tears.””