On WNED Classical we remember the great composers through their music, but many composers said a lot about music as well. Sometimes they were insightful and inspirational. At other times, they were humorous and even biting. Here are 21 of my favorite composer quotes about music . . . and life. Are any of them meaningful to you?
1. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (1098-1179):There is music of Heaven in all things.
2. CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567-1643): The end of all good music is to affect the soul.
3. GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759): I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wish to make them better.
4. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750): It’s easy to play any musical instrument. All you must do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.
5. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791): I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.
6. FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN (1732-1809): There was no one near to confuse me, so I was forced to become original.
7. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): To play a wrong note is insignificant. To play without passion is inexcusable!
8. GIOACCHINO ROSSINI (1792-1868): One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time.
9. FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847): It’s not that music is too imprecise for words, but too precise.
10. FREDERIC CHOPIN (1810-1849): I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness, but then again, I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them.
11. FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886): Beware of missing chances; otherwise, it may be altogether too late someday.
12. RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883): Joy is not in things: it is in us.
13. CLARA SCHUMANN (1819-1896): Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?
14. PIOTR TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893): Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.
15. ANTONIN DVORAK (1841-1904): Mozart is sweet sunshine.
16. CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918): (referring to Wagner’s music) A beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn.
17. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958): I don’t know whether I like it, but it is what I meant.
18. WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978): For me there is no White music or Black music - there is only music by individual men that is important if it attempts to dignify all men, not just a particular race.
19. JOAQUIN RODRIGO (1901-1999):To listen only to records is a sin of narcissism. It is important to hear live music, in concert, which is a source of emotions that a record can never convey.
20. HOWARD SHORE (b.1946):Sometimes you want to use the music . . . to explain something in the film.
21. RYUICHI SAKAMOTO (1952-2023): For me, Debussy is the door to all 20th Century music.