Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpoints to hack post-horses.
Music is my life and my life is music.
Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing 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.
The most necessary, most difficult and principal thing in music, that is time.
Melody is the essence of music.
The taste of death is upon my lips. I feel something that is not of this earth.
Music, in even the most terrible situations, must never offend the ear but always remain a source of pleasure.
To my eyes and ears the organ will ever be the King of Instruments.
It is a great consolation for me to remember that the Lord, to whom I had drawn near in humble and child-like faith, has suffered and died for me, and that He will look on me in love and compassion.
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 ideas flow best and most abundantly.
I never lie down at night without reflecting that, young as I am, I may not live to see another day.
Even when I can play Europe’s most precious keyboard, to have to listen to people who don’t understand, or do not want to understand, and who are incapable of grasping my intent, whatever I play, does surely forfeit my lust for playing at all.
Love guards the heart from the abyss.
God first, then papa.
I must give you a piece of intelligence that you perhaps already know, namely that the ungodly arch-villain Voltaire has died miserably like a dog, just like a brute. That is his reward!
I too had to work hard, so as not to have to work hard any longer.
I love it when an aria fits a singer as perfectly as a suit of well-tailored clothes.
One must not make oneself cheap here – that is a cardinal point – or else one is done. Whoever is most impertinent has the best chance.
She’s only pretty in that she has two small black eyes and a good figure.
My fatherland has always the first claim on me.