Composer quotes

[Peter]

Some thoughts for the day!
http://www.classical-music.com/artic...omposer-quotes

[Chris]

I especially like the one from Brahms: "Without craftmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind."

[Harvey]

I wanted to see a Beethoven quote but they did not include one. But I do like the Mendelssohn quote.

EDIT: may as well add a Beethoven quote here then:

[Megan]

"I do not like to be accompanied" - Thalberg on the suggestion he play a duet with Liszt.

[Megan]

“I have long been thinking of abandoning these nonsensical terms allegro, andante, adagio, presto, and Mälzel’s metronome gives us the best opportunity to do so. I give you my word here and now that I will never use them again in any of my new compositions.” (Letter to Hofrat von Mosel, 1817)

Beethoven

[Peter]

"The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art
has no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal,
and while, perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he
has not yet reached the point where the better genius shall
shine before him like a distant sun."

(Beethoven to an admirer ten years old.)

[Michael]

This is not a quote from a composer but from a distinguished writer:

"Beethoven always sounds to me like the upsetting of a bag of nails, with here and there an also dropped hammer."

No less a person than John Ruskin wrote these words and why should we ordinary mortals argue with such perspicacity? One wonders which work he was referring to. (Or as an elegant writer like Ruskin would put it: "to which he was referring.")
As we all know, a preposition is something you should never end a sentence with!

"Bag of Nails"? I haven't checked his timelines but was it the Grosse Fugue he was referring to......I mean to which he was referring. Watch out for those prepositions!

I am torn between writers and composers!
But I trust composers.

.

[Megan]

On Felix Mendelssohn -


Beethoven heard him play in 1821 and made a prophetic entry in one of his conversation books: "Mendelssohn - 12 years old- promises much."

[Peter]

On Felix Mendelssohn -


Beethoven heard him play in 1821 and made a prophetic entry in one of his conversation books: "Mendelssohn - 12 years old- promises much."

Thanks for reminding me of that encounter which I'd forgotten about as it is rather over shadowed by the meetings with Schubert and Liszt which are more often talked about.

[Sorrano]

On Felix Mendelssohn -


Beethoven heard him play in 1821 and made a prophetic entry in one of his conversation books: "Mendelssohn - 12 years old- promises much."

Thanks, Megan! I was wondering if they had even met just recently, as I've been listening to his "Elias" oratorio.

[gprengel]

On Felix Mendelssohn -


Beethoven heard him play in 1821 and made a prophetic entry in one of his conversation books: "Mendelssohn - 12 years old- promises much."

Interesting, I didn't know that! But how could he hear him when being completely deaf at that time?

[Michael]

Interesting, I didn't know that! But how could he hear him when being completely deaf at that time?

A good question. Many accounts state that Beethoven was stone deaf in his last few years - and just as many say that some days he could hear a little.
Possibly, in 1821, he was having a good day.

Also, he had the uncanny ability to judge a musician merely by watching him or her play. There is an account of his observing a run-through of one of his late quartets (and this was in his last years when his hearing was much worse than in 1821) where the players made an alteration in the last movement.
Beethoven spotted it without hearing it - and, even more surprisingly, agreed with the change!

[gprengel]

On Felix Mendelssohn -


Beethoven heard him play in 1821 and made a prophetic entry in one of his conversation books: "Mendelssohn - 12 years old- promises much."

This statement made me to surf a bit in the internet and I found this sooo beautiful description by a young English man meeting Mendelssohn in his home:

http://deeprootsmag.org/2012/11/12/a...ohn-bartholdy/

[Megan]

This statement made me to surf a bit in the internet and I found this sooo beautiful description by a young English man meeting Mendelssohn in his home:

http://deeprootsmag.org/2012/11/12/a...ohn-bartholdy/

Thank you gprengel, that page is fascinating!
Many years and memories now, it was through my late father-in-law, that I was first introduced to Mendelssohn's music, we spent enjoyable evenings of listening to his favourite pieces in particular Fingal's Cave.

I was pleased to read that Mendelssohn had visited the room in which Mary Queen of Scots secretary of state (Rizzio) was murdered in Holyrood Palace. My husband and I visited that exact spot also. On display in the palace there are personal mementos of Mary, including her hair, and rosaries.

[Megan]

"What I've noticed is that people who love what they do, regardless of what that might be, tend to live longer."
Philip Glass.