Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven; baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis and an opera, Fidelio...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth16 December 1770
CityBonn, Germany
CountryGermany
I carry my thoughts about with me for a long time... before writing them down... once I have grasped a theme. I shall not forget it even years later. I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied; then, in my head... [the work] rises, it grows, I hear and see the image n front of me from every angle... and only the labor of writing it down remains... I turn my ideas into tones that resound, roar, and rage until at last they stand before me in the form of notes.
I carry my thoughts about with me for a long time, often for a very long time, before writing them down.
Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.
I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.
I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose.
I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied; then, in my head, I being to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth...I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle as if it had been cast and only the labour of writing it down remains.
Off with you! You're a happy fellow, for you'll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!
Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience.
Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.
I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death.
There ought to be only one large art warehouse in the world, to which the artist could carry his art-works and from which he could carry away whatever he needed. As it is one must be half a tradesman.
Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear.
It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer.
Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the distant and the dead live with us.