"
The histories of Music contain many curious anecdotes as to the
circumstances under which different works have been composed.
Rossini tells us that he wrote the overture to the "Gazza Ladra" on the
very day of the first performance, in the upper loft of the La Scala,
where he had been confined by the manager under the guard of four
scene-shifters, who threw the text out of the window to copyists bit by
bit as it was composed. Tartini is said to have composed "Il trillo del
Diavolo," considered to be his best work, in a dream. Rossini, speaking of
the chorus in G minor in his "Dal tuo stellato soglio," tells us: "While I
was writing the chorus in G minor I suddenly dipped my pen into a medicine
bottle instead of the ink. I made a blot, and when I dried this with the
sand it took the form of a natural, which instantly gave me the idea of
the effect the change from G minor to G major would make, and to this blot
is all the effect, if any, due." But these of course are exceptional
cases.
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