Gustav Mahler: memories and letters
A source page for quotes linked to Gustav Mahler.
Related Quotes
“Tradition ist die Weitergabe des Feuers, nicht die Anbetung der Asche”
“Both my marriages were failures! Number one departed, and number two stayed”
“Only when I experience do I compose - only when I compose do I experience.”
“Don't bother looking at the view - I have already composed it.”
“If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.”
Source: Gustav Mahler: memories and letters
“Fortunately, something always remains to be harvested. So let us not be idle.”
“A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.”
“I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.”
“The call of love sounds very hollow among these immobile rocks.”
“If you think you're boring your audience, go slower not faster.”
“I beg of you... never assume an inner or an outer pose, never a disguise.”
“I hope you will no longer accuse me of a lack of delicacy. as I now count on your understanding.”
“I live like a Hottentot. I cannot exchange one sensible word with anyone.”
“All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish.”
“The impressions of the spriritual experiences gave my future life its form and content.”
“The spirit can assert itself only through the medium of clear form.”
“To judge a composer's work, one must consider it as a whole.”
“What I wanted and what I visualized while composing has not always been realized.”
“You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.”
“A full cup of wine at the right time is worth more than all the kingdoms of this earth!”
Source: Three Song Cycles in Vocal Score: Songs of a Wayfarer, Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied Von Der Erde
“Behind me the branches of a wasted and sterile existence are cracking.”
“Destiny smiles upon me but without making me the least bit happier.”