Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quotes

The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.

When I am ..... completely myself, entirely alone... or during the night when I cannot sleep, it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how these ideas come I know not nor can I force them.

To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.

Stay with me to-night; you must see me die. I have long had the taste of death on my tongue, I smell death, and who will stand by my Constanze, if you do not stay?

A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.

What's even worse than a flute? - Two flutes!

It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.

All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.

Our riches, being in our brains, die with us... Unless of course someone chops off our head, in which case, we won't need them anyway.

Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack post-horses; therefore be advised, let well alone and remember the old Italian proverb: Chi sa più, meno sa—Who knows most, knows least.

As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relationships with this best and truest friend of mankind that death's image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling.

One day the last portrait of Rembrandt and the last bar of Mozart will have ceased to be — though possibly a colored canvas and a sheet of notes will remain — because the last eye and the last ear accessible to their message will have gone.

Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music.

My dear sister! I’m amazed to discover that you can compose so delightfully. In a word, your Lied is beautiful. You must compose more often.

People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to compositions as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.

When I feel well and in a good humour, or when I am taking a drive or walking after a good meal, or in the night when I cannot sleep, thoughts crowd into my mind as easily as you could wish.

I am not thoughtless but am prepared for anything and as a result can wait patiently for whatever the future holds in store, and I'll be able to endure it.

You know that I immerse myself in music, so to speak— that I think about it all day long— that I like experimenting— studying— reflecting.

They probably think because I am so small and young, nothing of greatness and class can come out of me; but they shall soon find out.

Leck mich im Arsch! Laßt uns froh sein! Murren ist vergebens! Knurren, Brummen ist vergebens, ist das wahre Kreuz des Lebens, das Brummen ist vergebens, Knurren, Brummen ist vergebens, vergebens! Drum laßt uns froh und fröhlich, froh sein!

If one has the talent it pushes for utterance and torments one; it will out; and then one is out with it without questioning.

It is, of course, a money marriage, nothing more. I wouldn't want to enter into this kind of marriage. I wish to make my wife happy and not make my happiness through her.

If you would dance, my pretty Count, I'll play the tune on my little guitar..

I should like to know for what reason idleness is so popular with many young people that it is impossible to dissuade them from it either by words or by chastisements.

schlafen die kleinen Scheiben des Todes, wie ich verachte sie" which means sleep those tiny slices of death how i despise them

The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with those people--and that music does not have a better reputation...For I assure you, without travel, at least for people from the arts and sciences, one is a miserable creature!...A man of mediocre talents always remains mediocre, may he travel or not--but a man of superior talents, which I cannot deny myself to have without being blasphemous, becomes--bad, if he always stays in the same place. If the archbishop would trust me, I would soon make his music famous; that is surely true.

I beg you most humbly to go on loving me just a little and to make do with these poor congratulations until I get some new drawers made for my small and narrow brainbox in which I can keep the brains that I still intend to acquire.

Je ne vais jamais au lit sans réfléchir que le lendemain peut-être (si jeune que je sois) je ne serai plus là...; et pourtant personne, de tous ceux qui me connaissent, ne peut dire que je sois chagrin ou triste dans ma conversation...

What annoys me most is that these stupid Frenchmen think I am still just seven years old - because that was my age when they first saw me - (...) they treat me here like a beginner - except the musicians; they know better.

(...) you know that I am, as it were, completely immersed in Musique - it is on my mind all day long - I love to plan - study - reflect on it (...).

(...) the French are such assess, they are truly inept, for they have to go abroad for help.

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” ― Plato

If people could see into my heart, I should almost feel ashamed - all there is cold, cold as ice.

The organ is in my eyes and ears the king of all instruments.

Some fellow built a house here and wrote on it: When I built my house I was very glad, when I knew its cost I got very sad. (During the night somebody scribbled right under it:) Building a house takes a lot of loot, and you should have known it, you nincompoop.

you mustn’t place your signature too low down on the page and thereby leave a blank space above it, otherwise some rogue – if such a letter were to fall into the wrong hands – might cut out the name and add some small demand for several louis d’or in the blank space above it.

The human voice vibrates naturally - but in such a way - to such a degree that it all sounds beautiful - it is the nature of the voice. We imitate such effects not only on wind instruments, but also with violins - even on clavier - but as soon as you go beyond the natural limits, it no longer sounds beautiful - because it is contrary to nature.

(...) he must have thought: this is a young fellow and a stupid German besides - that's just how all French speak of the Germans - he will be quite content with this - but the stupid German was not content - and didn't accept the money either (...).

I had the honour of kissing St. Peter's foot at Sanct Pietro, and because I have the misfortune of being so small I, the same old numbskull, Wolfgang Mozart, had to be lifted up.

I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity . . . of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness

If a passage occurs twice it is played slower the second time; if three times, still slower.

[W]ithout travelling one remains a poor creature; that goes especially for people in the arts and sciences! [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]

Exactly, my dear sir, as the radio for ten minutes together projects the most lovely music without regard into the most impossible places, into respectable drawing rooms and attics and into the midst of chattering, guzzling, yawning and sleeping listeners, and exactly as it strips this music of its sensuous beauty, spoils and scratches and slimes it and yet cannot altogether destroy its spirit, just so does life, the so-called reality, deal with the sublime picture-play of the world and make a hurley-burley of it. It makes its unappetizing tone-slime of the most magic orchestral music. Everywhere it obtrudes its mechanism, its activity, its dreary exigencies and vanity between the ideal and the real, between orchestra and ear. All life is so, my child, and we must let it be so: and, if we are not asses, laugh at it. It little becomes people like you to be critics of radio or of life either. Better learn to listen first! Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.

What else is genius than that productive power through which deeds arise, worthy of standing in the presence of God and Nature, and which, for this reason, bear results and are lasting? All the creations of Mozart are of this class; within them there is a generative force which is transplanted from generation to generation, and is not likely soon to be exhausted or devoured." CHIPS

All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember It.”  ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart     “As

Two could live as cheaply as one

I was absolutely determined to leave. They wouldn’t let me. They wanted me to give a concert; I wanted them to beg me. And so they did. I gave a concert.

Yes, but I wasn't running around asking other people how to do it.

Don Giovanni, you invited me to sup with you: I have come.

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and simpleton, at Vienna, March 27, 1783.

The thing is I have an inexpressible desire to write an opera again; it would make me so happy because it gives me something to compose which is my real joy and passion (...).

Everything here is too far to walk - or too muddy; for the dirt in Paris is beyond all description.

The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.” ― Plato     “According

We are what we repeatedly do. Greatness then, is not an act, but a habit”  ― Aristotle     “...happiness

Our arses should be signs of peace!

When I am traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during the night when I cannot sleep–it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.

It’s WA today, Minna,” called Orson from across the room, Orson’s name for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Orson played second violin with a sloppy serenity, rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue, his bowing long and sweeping and beautiful even when out of tune. “If you must make a mistake,” he had quoted, “make it a big one.” Was it Heifetz who had said it? Perlman? Zukerman maybe?

Despite being one of the greatest musical geniuses, he disdained high-brow musical jargon. Instead music was a living thing, something to be pranced about the room, or taken for a little stroll.

A goodly number of high nobility was present: the Duchess Kickass, the Countess Pisshappy, also the Princess Smellshit with her two daughters, who are married to the two Princes of Mustbelly von Pigtail.

(...) he must have thought: this is a young fellow and a stupid German besides - that's just how all French speak of the Germans - he will be guite content with this - but the stupid German was not content (...).

I ask you most humbly to continue loving me a little, and to be content for the moment with this token of a congratulation until new drawers can be made for my small little brain box, so I have a place to put the brain that I still hope to acquire.

Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.”  ― Aristotle     “Excellence

He fixed his eyes on my fingers while I played to him, then said suddenly, "My God; I work at it till I sweat and yet get no success - while you, my friend, simply play at it!" "Yes," said I, "but I too had to work in order that I might be exempt from work now.

Various musicians consented here and there to give the young boy lessons, but in 1781, Ludwig officially became the pupil of Christian Gottlob Neefe, the new court organist. This relationship opened up Ludwig’s first great responsibility in 1782, when Neefe temporarily traveled elsewhere, leaving his duties as organist for religious services to Ludwig. The boy had to play twice every day for the Catholic masses in addition to other special services. In 1783, the busy Neefe also asked Ludwig to take his place in playing the harpsichord (another instrument similar to a piano) for rehearsals of the court orchestra. Neefe had stretched Ludwig’s capabilities by requiring him to practice the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Now Ludwig would have to read and play a variety of complicated musical pieces, further expanding his musical education. In addition, Beethoven began producing noteworthy compositions of his own. It was not until 1784, however, that Ludwig was officially appointed as Neefe’s assistant as court organist and finally began receiving a small salary. At last, he could help to financially support his family with his music, the purpose toward which his father had groomed him practically from babyhood. In 1787, at 16 years of age, Beethoven was sent to Vienna, Austria, to study under the musical master, Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart. It is not known whether he was able to receive lessons from Mozart, though some say that he was instructed by him in musical composition. Unfortunately, Beethoven’s mother became seriously ill with tuberculosis, and he had to hurry home from Vienna to say goodbye before her death at 40 years of age.

My grandfather eyes were blue in the very End.

I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.” —Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

are played by blowing into a circular mouthpiece. A symphony lasts about thirty minutes and has three

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was born in Salzburg, Austria on January 27. About eleven minutes later he was writing his own music.

The earthquake, however, must be to every one a most impressive event: the earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust beneath our feet; and in seeing the laboured works of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power.”  ― Charles Darwin     “I

Whilst Man, however well-behaved, At best is but a monkey shaved!”  ― Charles Darwin     “Discharge

Character is simply habit long continued.” ― Plato

The greatest wealth is to live content with little.

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being” ― Plato

Wealth is the parent of luxury and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent.” ― Plato

To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”  ― Aristotle     “A

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”  ― Aristotle     “I

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.”  ― Aristotle     “Learning

Die Musik steckt nicht in den Noten. Sondern in der Stille dazwischen.

The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Music is my life and my life is music.

If I ever get to heaven, I would first of all seek out Mozart, and only then inquire after Augustine, St. Thomas, Luther, Calvin, and Schleiermacher.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, William Shakespeare, and Michelangelo Buonarroti stand together at the peak of Western culture.

Jonathon, who has the Kung Chow act—always good to have another of the company about—” “Kung Chow?” Wolf said in dismay. “I am not going to substitute for one of his wretched doves again! Really, Nigel, this is going too far—” “No one is asking you to substitute for a dove, Wolf,” Nigel said, pacing faster. “We should make this a real Arabian Nights story. Shipwreck our girl in Arabia, have her taken to a harem, that way we can bring in all the variety acts as things to entertain the sultan! And have an excuse to put her in as little as we can convince her to wear. And there are plenty of girls in our chorus who wouldn’t blanch at doing a harem dance. Have her escape with the Court Magician’s help—” “Oh good lord, why don’t you just steal the plot and music from my Abduction from the Seraglio and have done with it?” Wolf said in disgust. “Why don’t I—Wolf! That’s brilliant!” Nigel turned towards the parrot and conductor with a smile lighting up his face. “Perfect! You adapt the music for our show, we can tout it as ‘Based on Abduction from the Seraglio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.’ Make the print just large enough that the punters won’t notice and the high-minded will. The punters will get their nautch dances, and the high-toned will tell each other how fine it is to listen to classical music while they gawk at the nautch dances from behind their pince-nezes. It’s brilliant! I love you!” As Wolf growled in startlement, Nigel swooped him up, kissed his beak, and put him back down on his stand again. “Brilliant! Brilliant! I’m going to go look up the libretto of this opera of yours and see what I can keep out of it. Arthur, help Wolf with some catchy lyrics. We’ll need at least one love song, of course, and one song about being homesick. And one from the sultan about making the beauty his slave for all time—” Nigel strode off, heading for the music library. Behind him, Wolf sighed. “Well,” the parrot said in resignation. “At least I won’t have to make up any little tinkly tunes this time.” 5 NINETTE sat up in the bed, curled her arms around her knees, and listened in astonishment to the cat.

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”  ― Charles Darwin     “Thus,