a fact which led to very practical results in our family council.
Clara's talent, while her voice was still sound, was the object
of competition between the representatives of Italian and German
opera. I can remember quite distinctly that from the very
beginning I declared myself in favour of German opera; my choice
was determined by the tremendous impression made on me by the two
figures of Sassaroli and Weber. The Italian male-soprano, a huge
pot-bellied giant, horrified me with his high effeminate voice,
his astonishing volubility, and his incessant screeching
laughter. In spite of his boundless good-nature and amiability,
particularly to my family, I took an uncanny dislike to him. On
account of this dreadful person, the sound of Italian, either
spoken or sung, seemed to my ears almost diabolical; and when, in
consequence of my poor sister's misfortune, I heard them often
talking about Italian intrigues and cabals, I conceived so strong
a dislike for everything connected with this nation that even in
much later years I used to feel myself carried away by an impulse
of utter detestation and abhorrence.

The less frequent visits of Weber, on the other hand, seemed to
have produced upon me those first sympathetic impressions which I
have never since lost. In contrast to Sassaroli's repulsive
figure, Weber's really refined, delicate, and intellectual
appearance excited my ecstatic admiration. His narrow face and
finely-cut features, his vivacious though often half-closed eyes,
captivated and thrilled me; whilst even the bad limp with which
he walked, and which I often noticed from our windows when the
master was making his way home past our house from the fatiguing
rehearsals, stamped the great musician in my imagination as an
exceptional and almost superhuman being. When, as a boy of nine,