I remember distinctly the first time Floria Tosca entered my life. It was years before I, as Baron Scarpia, was to take a hand in directing her tragic fate, but I can see her now in my mind's eye. I still hear the sweet impatience of her ‘Mario! Mario!’ sung off-stage. I still feel the frisson of excited expectancy which passed through the audience. And then she was there – entering the Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle with royal bearing, her left arm encircling her offering of flowers, extended so that the light caught the sheen on her sleeve and shoulder. She hardly touched the floor in the lightness of her tread – a marvellous vision, complete in its expression of art: La Divina Claudia Muzio.

Even then I think I sensed something of the elements which combined to make that perfect entry. Infinite research and study had prepared the groundwork, imagination had been brought to bear on the knowledge thus absorbed, and a tremendous flair for the projection of a unique personality had completed the miracle. Fascinated by the way in which singing and acting were blended in a harmonious whole, I dreamed that one day perhaps I would be able to do the same.