Rossini -- La Gazza Ladra Overture (Abbado)

““I wrote the overture to La gazza ladra the day of the first performance under the roof of La Scala, where I was imprisoned by the director and guarded by four stagehands, who were under orders to throw my manuscript from the window, page by page, to the copyists who were waiting below to prepare the parts. If the music paper wasn’t ready, they were under orders to throw me from the window.“