Quote of the Day

[Peter]

About Bruckner's 3rd symphony - " A vision of Beethoven's 9th becoming friendly with Wagner's Valkyries and finishing up trampled under their hooves." Eduard Hanslick.

[Sorrano]

About Bruckner's 3rd symphony - " A vision of Beethoven's 9th becoming friendly with Wagner's Valkyries and finishing up trampled under their hooves." Eduard Hanslick.

That's one of many reasons why I've never liked Hanslick. Didn't Wagner parody his character from Die Meistersinger Hans Sachs from Hanslick?

[Rutradelusasa]

That's one of many reasons why I've never liked Hanslick. Didn't Wagner parody his character from Die Meistersinger Hans Sachs from Hanslick?

Hans Sachs is the good guy, it's Beckmesser you're after.

Poor Bruckner, got caught in the middle of the battlefield of Wagner's possee and Brahms' one without deserving it.

[Joy]

Frederic Chopin - "Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art."

[Peter]

Thomas Beecham on receiving many telegrams and congratulations on his 70th birthday - "What! nothing from Mozart?"

[Hofrat]

William Shakespeare in "Much Ado About Nothing:"

"Is it not strange that sheep's guts should hale souls out of men's bodies?"

[Peter]

"Nature would burst should she attempt to produce nothing but Beethovens." - Robert Schumann.

[Joy]

Muss es sein? Es muss sein! Es muss sein! (Must it be? It must be! It must be!)
-- Ludwig van Beethoven, comment written on the finale of his String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135.

I'm sure this has been addressed here before but can someone explain to me what exactly this quote was all about?

[Peter]

Muss es sein? Es muss sein! Es muss sein! (Must it be? It must be! It must be!)
-- Ludwig van Beethoven, comment written on the finale of his String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135.

I'm sure this has been addressed here before but can someone explain to me what exactly this quote was all about?

There are two stories relating to the origins of the phrase 'Muss es sein? Es muss sein!' ('Must it be? It must be!')

The first, told to us by Schindler, relates to Beethoven's housekeeper's constant requests for money. This was not an easy task for her as Beethoven was always busy and constantly needed reminding. When Beethoven noticed her ('Frau Schnapps' as he called her) standing by him waiting for the housekeeping money, he would say, or even sing: 'Must it be?'. The old woman would nod and reply 'It must be!' Schindler said that this joke was repeated almost every Saturday (payday) and was a source of great amusement for Beethoven. Evidence of this exists in the conversation book of 1823, where a person identified by Schindler as the housekeeper, puts the same request in writing.

A later story comes to us from Karl Holz and Schindler. In 1826, violinists Joseph Bohm and Joseph Mayseder wished to play Beethoven's latest quartet (op.130) at one of the quartet parties they held at the house of Ignaz Dembscher. However Beethoven would not provide Dembscher with the quartet manuscripts because Dembscher had not subscribed to an earlier performance of the piece by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. Distraught by this, Dembscher begged Holz to find some way to change Beethoven's mind. Holz suggested that Demscher send Schuppanzigh 50 florins, which was the subscription fee. To this suggestion Demscher laughingly asked 'Must it be?' When Holz told Beethoven of this Beethoven laughed as well and immediately wrote a canon (WoO196) on the following words: 'Es muss sein! Ja. Heraus mit dem beutel! (It must be! Yes. Out with the money!) Beethoven made the most of this joke for some time also, and it is mentioned in the conversation books.

The joke finally played its part in Beethoven's last quartet op135, in the final movement which he entitled 'Der schwer gefasste Entschluss' (roughly 'the hard won decision'). Here, on the dark Grave section Beethoven writes 'Muss es sein?', and on the following humorous Allegro he writes 'Es muss sein!'. Much has been made of what he meant by all this in its quartet context. It's an ironic joke that only Beethoven could make, and perhaps can be seen as a reflection of his general philosophy of life, summing up his struggles and his faith.

[Joy]

Thanks so much for that explaination, Peter. That clears up all my inquiries.
I often wondered about that. What a nice, humourous side of Beethoven there was!

[Preston]

Beethoven on Goethe

"Goethe, is too fond of the atmosphere of the royal courts, more than is becoming to a poet. Why laugh at the absurdities of virtuosos when poets, who ought to be the first teachers of a nation, forget everything for the sake of glitter?" LVB

I know this may not be the best "quote" but I thought it was a pretty interesting fact.

[Peter]

There was a composer named Spohr
Whose works were a hundred or mohr.
His great work Jessonda
Long time was a wonda
But now his successes are o'hr.

Musical Herald 1888.

[Sorrano]

Good one!

There was a composer named Spohr
Whose works were a hundred or mohr.
His great work Jessonda
Long time was a wonda
But now his successes are o'hr.

Musical Herald 1888.

[Peter]

"Once dead he will live for a long time." 1844 - Stephen Heller on Berlioz.

[Joy]

"Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain."
Michael Bakunin, quoted in Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station (1940)