The moment there is a question of taking a large chorus, before rehearsals have even begun, a sort of anticipatory rage possesses me, my throat tightens, and although nothing has yet occurred to make me lose my temper I glare at the singers in a manner reminiscent of the Gascon who kicked an inoffensive small boy passing near him, and on the latter's protesting that he had not "done anything", replied, "Just think if you had!"

—Hector Berlioz, Memoirs