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Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.

Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.

An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house.

Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out.

But to me the actual sound of the words is all important; I feel always that the words complete the music and must never be swallowed up in it.

Give me a laundry-list and I'll set it to music.

Going to the opera, like getting drunk, is a sin that carries its own punishment with it.

I seem to write an opera about every 20 years; if you live long enough you can write four operas. I finished my third in 1970.

If you can sell green toothpaste in this country, you can sell opera.