I Choose Such Notes That

Let Us Put Our Trust In God And Console Ourselves With The Thought That All Is Well, If It Is In Accordance With The Will Of The Almighty, As He Knows Best What Is Profitable And Beneficial To Our Temporal Happiness And Our Eternal Salvation.

I Write [music] As A Sow Piddles.

As Death, When We Come To Consider It Closely, Is The True Goal Of Our Existence, I Have Formed During The Last Few Years Such Close Relationships With This Best And Truest Friend Of Mankind That Death's Image Is Not Only No Longer Terrifying To Me, But Is Indeed Very Soothing And Consoling, And I Thank My God For Graciously Granting Me The Opportunity...of Learning That Death Is The Key Which Unlocks The Door To Our True Happiness.

People Err Who Think My Art Comes Easily To Me. I Assure You, Dear Friend, Nobody Has Devoted So Much Time And Thought To Compositions As I. There Is Not A Famous Master Whose Music I Have Not Industriously Studied Through Many Times.

I Cannot Write In Verse, For I Am No Poet. I Cannot Arrange The Parts Of Speech With Such Art As To Produce Effects Of Light And Shade, For I Am No Painter. Even By Signs And Gestures I Cannot Express My Thoughts And Feelings, For I Am No Dancer. But I Can Do So By Means Of Sounds, For I Am A Musician.