"Richard has remembered a Verdi theme which he heard sung yesterday on the Grand canal as a duet; he sings it to me, laughing at the way this outburst of rage was bellowed out yesterday. He made a note of its broken rhythm - "And that one is asked to call a natural line!" - and there is nothing like it in Rossini" Sunday, April 23 1882. Cosima Wagner - Diaries.
