" When I feel well and in good humor , or when I
am taking a drive or walking after a good meal, or in a night when I cannot
sleep thoughts crowd into my mind as easily as you could wish. Where do
they come from? I do not know and I have nothing to do with it . Those
which please
me I keep in my head and hum them ; at least others have told me I do so.
Once I have my theme another melody comes linking
itself with the first one in accordance with the needs of the compositon
as a whole ;the counterpoint , the parts for each instrument and all the
melodic fragments at last produce the complete work. Then my soul is on
fire with inspiration. The work grows ; I keep expanding it conceiving more
and more clearly until I have the entire compossition finished in my
head although
it may be long.
Then my mind seizes it, as a glance of a eye would
a beautiful picture or a handsome youth. It does not come to me successfully
, with various parts worked out in detail , as they will later on. But it
is in its entirety that my imagination let me hear it ."
-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
