{"id":45927,"date":"2024-08-13T12:30:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T10:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/8b405b0b-d3d5-430c-8270-185b8d357178"},"modified":"2024-08-13T13:07:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T11:07:19","slug":"best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Best classical music quotes: 22 inspiring, original and amusing observations on music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Tuesday, 13 August 2024 at 10:30 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>A great many wise, witty, perceptive and provocative things have been said about classical music. About its power to move, to excite, to explore some of the most impenetrable recesses of the human condition. But also about what constitutes &#8216;good&#8217; music, where we should draw the lines between imitation and plagiarism, and much more. Here are some of the best and most inspiring classical music quotes on record. <\/p><script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/players\/xjL98ot4-lqFafnwo.js\"\/><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-best-classical-music-quotes\">Best classical music quotes<\/h2><p>We begin with a selection of observations on the power of music from composers, philosophers, one of the 20th century's greatest singer-songwriters, and more. Here is philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche musing on the central place of music in our existence. Elsewhere, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/ludwig-van-beethoven\">Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> places music just where it belongs in the hierarchy of human knowledge and endeavour. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/robert-schumann\">Schumann<\/a><\/strong> defines an artist's essential duties. And <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/nina-simone\">Nina Simone<\/a><\/strong> is very clear about what label applies to the music she makes. <\/p><p><strong>Without music, life would be a mistake.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Composer Ludwig van Beethoven, reported in a letter from Bettina von Arnim to Goethe, 28 May 1810<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Best classical music quotes - Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Composer Robert Schumann<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Singer-songwriter Nina Simone<\/em><\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/nina-simone-biography\">Nina Simone: how racism shaped her career<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/best-jazz-singers-ever\">Best jazz singers ever: our top 15<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"612\" height=\"816\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/04\/Add-a-little-bit-of-body-text-1.png\" alt=\"Nina Simone music quote \" class=\"wp-image-204034\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Best classical music quotes<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-more-famous-classical-music-quotes\">More famous classical music quotes<\/h2><p>Onwards, with some keen insights on classical music from conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, tenor Andrea Bocelli, author Leo Tolstoy and more.<\/p><p><strong>Being an American musician means being adventurous.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas<\/em><\/p><p><strong>Extreme volume in music very often disguises a lack of actually important content.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Michael Tilson Thomas, again<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1098\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/04\/Add-a-subheading-1.png\" alt=\"Best classical music quotes: Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas music quote\" class=\"wp-image-204040\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Best classical music quotes<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Popularity gets up people's noses. But I understand the importance and the function of popular music. (...) Popular music helps people to develop a curiosity and leads them towards classical music.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Tenor <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/andrea-bocelli\">Andrea Bocelli<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><p\/><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions, which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Author Leo Tolstoy<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Author and philosopher Aldous Huxley<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"898\" height=\"1016\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/04\/Add-a-subheading-3.png\" alt=\"Aldous Huxley music quote\" class=\"wp-image-204045\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Best classical music quotes - Antonio Mar\u00edn Segovia via Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Music is the poetry of the air.<\/strong><\/p><p>-<em> German author Jean-Paul Richter (1763-1825)<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-best-classical-music-quotes-what-did-oscar-wilde-say-about-music\">Best classical music quotes: what did Oscar Wilde say about music?<\/h2><p>Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was well known for his witty and perceptive aper\u00e7us on everything from authenticity ('Be yourself; everyone else is already taken') to fame ('There is only one thing\u00a0in the world\u00a0worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.'). He also had something perceptive to say about music, as you will see below. <\/p><p>Before we get there, though, there are thought-provoking observations on the nature of music, what moods it can and can't encompass, and the impossibility of writing about music (actually it is doable - trust us), from thoughtful souls including philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/dmitri-shostakovich\">Dmitri Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Music is liquid architecture and architecture is frozen music.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Author and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>What can be considered human emotions? Surely not only lyricism, sadness, tragedy? Doesn't laughter also have a claim to that lofty title? I want to fight for the legitimate right of laughter in \u2018serious' music.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Composer Dmitri Shostakovich<\/em><\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/11-important-shostakovich-quotes\">11 great Shostakovich quotes<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/politics-dmitri-shostakovich\">The politics of Dmitri Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/shostakovichs-best-symphonies\">Which is Shostakovich's best symphony?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Unknown, possibly musical comedian Martin Mull<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Author Victor Hugo<\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"1022\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/04\/Add-a-subheading-2.png\" alt=\"Best classical music quotes: Oscar Wilde music quote\" class=\"wp-image-204041\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Best classical music quotes<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame, I simply follow my own feelings.<\/strong> <\/p><p><em>- Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/mozart\">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Art and life are not two separate things.<\/strong> <\/p><p><em>- Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/felix-mendelssohn\">Felix Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/five-essential-works-mendelssohn\">Mendelssohn: five essential works<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Without craftmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.<\/strong><\/p><p>- <em>Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johannes-brahms\">Johannes Brahms<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man's faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements.<\/strong> <\/p><p>- <em>Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/giacomo-puccini\">Giacomo Puccini<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/08\/Untitled-design-31.jpg\" alt=\"Composer Giacomo Puccini\" class=\"wp-image-209665\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Composer Giacomo Puccini. Universal History Archive\/Getty Images - Universal History Archive\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>If we understood the world, we would realise that there is a logic of harmony underlying its manifold apparent dissonances<\/strong>.<\/p><p>- <em>Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/jean-sibelius\">Jean Sibelius<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/sibelius-a-life-in-10-masterpieces\">Sibelius: a life in ten masterpieces<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>No particular culture seems to have a copyright on profound ideas about the world<\/strong>. <\/p><p>- <em>Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/philip-glass\">Philip Glass<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p>Music is life and, like it, inextinguishable.<\/p><p>- <em>Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/carl-nielsen\">Carl Nielsen<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/six-fascinating-facts-about-nielsen\">Carl Nielsen: six fascinating facts<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><p><strong>My music is my portrait.<\/strong> <\/p><p>- <em>Composer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/francis-poulenc\">Francis Poulenc<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Tuesday, 13 August 2024 at 10:30 AM A great many wise, witty, perceptive and provocative things have been said about classical music. About its power to move, to excite, to explore some of the most impenetrable recesses of the human condition. But also about what constitutes &#8216;good&#8217; music, where we should draw the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":45928,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/best-classical-music-quotes-22-inspiring-original-and-amusing-observations-on-music.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Tuesday, 13 August 2024 at 10:30 AM A great many wise, witty, perceptive and provocative things have been said about classical music. About its power to move, to excite, to explore some of the most impenetrable recesses of the human condition. But also about what constitutes &#8216;good&#8217; music, where we should draw the&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/45927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}