In his advice to young composers, Richard Wagner wrote that, after elaborating the contours of the musical piece one wants to compose one should erase everything and just focus one’s mind on a lone head floating freely in a dark void and wait for the moment when this white apparition starts to move its lips and sing. This music should be the germ of the work to be composed.
– Slavoj Zizek (OwB, p. 170)
