"Paris is whatever you choose : you can amuse yourself, be bored, laugh, cry, do anything you like, and nobody looks at you; because thousands of others are doing the same as you, and everyone goes his own road...
...I finally decided to migrate to this other world. Through Paër, who is court conductor here, I have met Rossini, Cherubini, Baillot, etc. — also Kalkbrenner. You would not believe how curious I was about Herz, Liszt, Hiller, etc. —"