Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best Gustav Mahler Quotes. Let’s look at these pieces of wisdom. We definitely have something to learn from them!
1
If I weren’t the way I am, I shouldn’t write my symphonies.
2
Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.
3
The real art of conducting consists in transitions.
4
If I weren’t the way I am, I shouldn’t write my symphonies.
5
Discipline, work. Work, discipline.
6
I have become a different person. I don’t know whether this person is better, he certainly is not happier.
7
Melodic invention is one of the surest signs of a divine gift.
8
Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.
9
I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed.
10
It’s not just a question of conquering a summit previously unknown, but of tracing, step by step, a new pathway to it.
11
I beg of you… never assume an inner or an outer pose, never a disguise.
12
An operetta is simply a small and gay opera.
13
Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.
14
The real art of conducting consists in transitions.
15
The further the music develops, the more complex the apparatus used by the composer to express his thoughts becomes.
16
I was a crazy young man who let himself be blinded by his passions and obeyed only the impulses of the moment.
17
What I wanted and what I visualized while composing has not always been realized.
18
It’s not just a question of conquering a summit previously unknown, but of tracing, step by step, a new pathway to it.
19
I beg of you… never assume an inner or an outer pose, never a disguise.
20
Never let oneself be guided by the opinion of one’s contemporaries. Continue steadfastly on one’s way.
21
It is easier to achieve a desired result in short pieces.
22
Behind me the branches of a wasted and sterile existence are cracking.
23
When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.
24
The longer you live and the more you learn, the more clearly you will feel the difference between the few men who are truly great and the mere virtuosi.
25
The spirit can assert itself only through the medium of clear form.
26
Destiny smiles upon me but without making me the least bit happier.
27
The call of love sounds very hollow among these immobile rocks.
28
Even if people censure me, they should do so hat in hand.
29
In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music, meant to be listened to in a small space by a small audience.
30
What I wanted and what I visualized while composing has not always been realized.
31
I hope you will no longer accuse me of a lack of delicacy. as I now count on your understanding.
32
The longer you live and the more you learn, the more clearly you will feel the difference between the few men who are truly great and the mere virtuosi.
33
I live like a Hottentot. I cannot exchange one sensible word with anyone.
34
Destiny smiles upon me but without making me the least bit happier.
35
The spirit can assert itself only through the medium of clear form.
36
You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.
37
Don’t bother looking at the view – I have already composed it.
38
I have become a different person. I don’t know whether this person is better, he certainly is not happier.
39
It is easier to achieve a desired result in short pieces.
40
A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.
41
Don’t bother looking at the view – I have already composed it.
42
If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.
43
An operetta is simply a small and gay opera.
44
You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.
45
In the theatrical works we love and admire the most, the ending of the drama generally takes place offstage.
46
It should be one’s sole endeavor to see everything afresh and create it anew.
47
I don’t let myself get carried away by my own ideas – I abandon 19 out of 20 of them every day.
48
It should be one’s sole endeavor to see everything afresh and create it anew.
49
I don’t let myself get carried away by my own ideas – I abandon 19 out of 20 of them every day.
50
Even if people censure me, they should do so hat in hand.
