Ludwig Van Beethoven:
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quotes
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Famous Ludwig Van Beethoven Quotes
Fahre fort, übe nicht allein die Kunst, sondern dringe auch in ihr Inneres; sie verdient es, denn nur die Kunst und die Wissenschaft erhöhen den Menschen bis zur Gottheit.
Letter to Emilie, July 17, 1812.
Quoted in Musical news, Vol. 3 (1892), p. 627
“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”
Musik höhere Offenbarung ist als alle Weisheit und Philosophie.
http://books.google.com/books?id=W2k6AAAAcAAJ&q=%22Musik+h%C3%B6here+Offenbarung+ist+als+alle+Weisheit+und+Philosophie%22&pg=PA193#v=onepage
As reported by Bettina von Arnim in a letter to Goethe, 28 May 1810.
Goethe's Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde: Seinem Denkmal, Volume 2, Dümmler, 1835, p. 193.
Variant: Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.
“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable”
Not found in Beethoven's known works. It may be a summary of the following description of Beethoven from his piano pupil Ferdinand Ries: "When I left out something in a passage, a note or a skip, which in many cases he wished to have specially emphasized, or struck a wrong key, he seldom said anything; yet when I was at fault with regard to the expression, the crescendo or matters of that kind, or in the character of the piece, he would grow angry. Mistakes of the other kind, he said were due to chance; but these last resulted from want of knowledge, feeling or attention. He himself often made mistakes of the first kind, even playing in public."
Disputed
Source: "When Beethoven gave me a lesson" https://books.google.com/books?id=j8RIq67v51cC&pg=PA294&dq=%22when+beethoven+gave+me+a+lesson%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMI7Yyz0PiNyQIViDuICh1YIAzR#v=onepage&q=%22when%20beethoven%20gave%20me%20a%20lesson%22&f=false
“To play without passion is inexcusable!”
Not found in Beethoven's known works. It may be a summary of the following description of Beethoven from his piano pupil Ferdinand Ries: "When I left out something in a passage, a note or a skip, which in many cases he wished to have specially emphasized, or struck a wrong key, he seldom said anything; yet when I was at fault with regard to the expression, the crescendo or matters of that kind, or in the character of the piece, he would grow angry. Mistakes of the other kind, he said were due to chance; but these last resulted from want of knowledge, feeling or attention. He himself often made mistakes of the first kind, even playing in public."
Disputed
Variant: To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable
Ludwig Van Beethoven Quotes about music
As reported by Elizabeth Brentano (Bettina) in a letter to Goethe, 27 May 1810.
Quoted in Edwin Burgum The new criticism (1930), p. 179
“Music is indeed the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life.”
Attributed to Beethoven by Bettina von Arnim in a letter to Goethe (28 May 1810); Goethe's Correspondence with a Child http://books.google.pt/books?id=UC8HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA210&dq=%22+music+is+indeed+the+mediator+between+%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=sF40VL3AIILwaIThgNgL&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=%22%20music%20is%20indeed%20the%20mediator%20between%20%22&f=false (1837)
24th November, 1814
Source: Johann Wenzel Tomaschek, "A Talk with Beethoven", The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 33, Beethoven Supplement (Dec. 15, 1892)
Ludwig Van Beethoven Quotes about art
“Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?”
Letter to Bettina von Arnim (11 August 1810)
Ludwig Van Beethoven Quotes
“I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.”
"A meeting of minds", The Guardian, 18 November 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/nov/18/classicalmusicandopera.thomasstearnseliot
Attributed
Variant: Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.
“Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est. (Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.)”
Said on his deathbed, 1827
“I want to seize fate by the throat.”
Letter to F.G. Wegeler, 16 November, 1801.
“Applaud my friends, the comedy is over…”
on his death bed
Original: Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.
“Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can not cook a clean soup.”
To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to spare his feelings. in Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words http://www.fullbooks.com/Beethoven-the-Man-and-the-Artist-as-Revealed2.html by Ludwig van Beethoven, edited by Friedrich Kerst
Attributed
Variant: Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup.
24th November, 1814
Source: Johann Wenzel Tomaschek, "A Talk with Beethoven", The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 33, Beethoven Supplement (Dec. 15, 1892)
10th October, 1814
In: Johann Wenzel Tomaschek, "A Talk with Beethoven", The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 33, Beethoven Supplement (Dec. 15, 1892)
Muß es sein? Es muß sein.
Epigraph to string quartet in F Major, Opus 135.
Ich werde im Himmel hören!
Said on his deathbed, 1827, as cited from the book Last Words.
“O you miserable fool, what I shit is better than anything you can do.”
Original: (de) Ach du erbärmlicher Schuft, was ich scheisse ist besser, als was du je gedacht.
Source: Written in the margin of Gottfried Weber's negative review of Wellington's Victory in Beethoven's copy of Cäcilia (August 1825) https://books.google.com/books?id=KBuLcEJpX4sC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77
“Only the pure in the heart can make a good soup.”
Original: (de) Nur das Reine im Herzen kann eine gute Suppe machen.
