A person of any mental quality has ideas of his own. This is common sense.
A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.
As a pianist, I was always lucky. You cannot realize what it means to me to leave the piano. It is like a day of sorrow.
As the mother teaches her children how to express themselves in their language, so one Gypsy musician teaches the other. They have never shown any need for notation.
Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.
Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.
Broad paths are open to every endeavour, and a sympathetic recognition is assured to every one who consecrates his art to the divine services of a conviction of a consciousness.
Companions, in misery and worse, that is what we all are, and to try to change this substantially avails us nothing.
I am bowed down with calls and with jobs to be done; would you be so kind, my dear sweet majesty, to excuse me if I don't come to pay my humble respects this morning?
I can truly say that my mass has been more prayed than composed.
I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other masterworks as well, stand in no further need of my services.
I desire no further proofs to remain a believer until my last breath.
I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.
I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.
I give myself over to no illusions regarding charity.
I have been in harness for 40 years and I consider that my task is done.
I have never travelled before on a Friday.
I have no desire to trouble others to follow me to the cemetery when I can serve them no longer in any way.
I have not published it, for the time is not yet ripe.
I innocently asked my father to explain the Seventh and Tenth Commandments to me, as I feared I might unconsciously transgressed them.
I promise you that Weimar would really become the seat of the New German School. You could count on success, and the future would belong to us!
I will see you before then, since I literally could no longer stand leading such a life of fits and starts.
If it is possible, let me be carried to my final home in the evening. Two or three men hired for the purpose will be enough to bear me.
If you desire my services, then let me have freedom to express the spirit which I represent.
In Hungary al native music is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.
In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.
In spite of transgressions and errors I have committed, the holy light of the Cross has never been entirely withdrawn from me.
Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
It appears not only that I have become unnecessary to the people of Weimar, but have even become superfluous.
It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.
It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.
It will be seen that the Gypsies are not only performing, but also creative poets.
Let us not worry, and look instead as it has been taught us to do, as the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, keeping complete faith in Our Father's goodness.
Let us think first of establishing a National Conservatory of Music representative of Hungary's artistic culture. I shall be proud to give my services in gratitude to my Fatherland.
Life is only a long and bitter suicide, and faith alone can transform this suicide into a sacrifice.
May all the dreams I have for your happiness and your soul's joy come true.
Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.
Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.
My father said to me that I had a good heart and understanding, but that he feared women would confuse and dominate my life.
O God of Truth, make me one with you in endless love.
One must have the memories of youth to become a Catholic.
Oral musical traditions are rooted in assured and scrupulous faith.
Perhaps you will find that it is possible generously to encourage my slightly wavering virtue, and in that case you will have no trouble in guessing what would be to me a precious reward.
Real men are sadly lacking in this world, for when they are put to the test they prove worthless.
She had paused beneath the sharp shadow of a poplar tree, as if beneath a funeral obelisk.
She then considered that God must have angels, whose entire beauty He made apparent only to those who grieved.
Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.
Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light.
The character of instrumental music... lets the emotions radiate and shine in their own character without presuming to display them as real or imaginary representations.
The Church has completely lost the esteem and affection of the people of today.
The first impulse of a great number of civilized musicians... is to protest our declaration that the music in Hungary belongs to the Gypsies.
The greatest depression in my old age is to find myself differing in opinion with you.
The Gypsies are thoroughly convinced that they are themselves the creators of their art.
The Gypsies treat authentic versions with respect; and their manner of reading them is essential to guard the purity of the basic text.
The Hungarian songs which exist in our country are too paltry and too fragmentary to develop into anything absolutely new.
The Hungarians have always manifested a great susceptibility to music and have always shown an understanding of this synthetic language.
The Magyars wandered into Europe in some past century and belong to some lost branch of the Indian race.
The morning twilight is colored and caught up by the sun's rays, when the radiant day blends the waving folds of its azure curtain, in a golden background.
The music of the Gypsies belongs in the sphere of improvisation rather than in any other, without which it would have no power to exist.
The Pariahs, who did not belong to the Aryan race at all, were not classed as humanity.
The principal task of a conductor is not to put himself in evidence but to disappear behind his functions as much as possible. We are pilots, not servants.
The process of my spiritual development is made peculiarly difficult by various occurrences and interruptions.
The public is always good.
The shoulders of the widow were hung in a long mourning dress, like the robes of exiled royalty.
The Weimar Theatre was of importance only in Goethe's day, and Goethe did not have to make public appearances.
There are ballads and romances to be found among the Gypsies, but their few lays rank no higher than awkward experiments not to be classed with works of art.
Truth is a great flirt.
We need improvement in the style of performance. There is no more advantage in a musician who plays and conducts than in one who is only a beater of rhythm.
What must you think of me, for not having yet thanked you for your very nice letters? But then why have you become such an important person?
Without any assistance whatever, I founded a school in Weimar in 10 years. Only I could perform certain works with the scanty means that I dared not ask anyone else to work with.
You are a pet and a thousand joys to me. Thank you, thank you for your pillow. Tonight I shall place it under my head which is very heavy and aching, since I no longer see you!
You may mock this feeling as bitterly as you will, I can only see and hope for salvation through it alone. Through Christ, through resignation to God, do salvation and deliverance come to us.
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