Alexander Pushkin

“ These tears, o Mozart!..
Pay no respect to them; continue, hurry
To fill my soul with those celestial sounds...
Mozart
If only all so quickly felt the power
Of harmony! But no, in that event
The world could not exist; all would abandon
The basic needs of ordinary life
And give themselves to unencumbered art.
We're few, the fortune's chosen, happy idlers,
Despising the repellent cares of use,
True votaries of one and only beauty. ”

“ Whenever black thoughts come into your head,
Uncork yourself another Champagne bottle
Or reread 'Le mariage de Figaro.'"
Mozart
Yes! I remember, you were boon companions
With Beaumarchais; you wrote "Tarare" for him --
A glorious thing. It has one melody...
I keep on singing it when I feel happy...
La la la la... Ah, is it right, Salieri,
That Beaumarchais could really poison someone?
Salieri
I doubt he did: too laughable a fellow
For such a serious craft.
Mozart
He was a genius,
Like you and me. While genius and evildoing
Are incompatibles. Is that not right? ”

“ Did I not leave all I had known before,
And loved so much, and trusted with such fervor,
To follow him, submissively and gaily,
Like one who has gone errant yet encounters
A man to set him on a different course? ”