Giuseppe Verdi
Greatest Italian opera composer
Most quoted
"I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds, and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my inspiration are so great that I have to sing them out loud."
— from Letter, 1871
"I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear."
— from Letter to Countess Maffei, 1875
"Of all composers, past and present, I am the least learned. I mean that in all seriousness, and by learning I do not mean knowledge of music."
— from Letter to Arrivabene, 1871
All quotes by Giuseppe Verdi (398)
I have always tried to make my music a source of inspiration.
The theatre is a place where the soul finds its expression.
I have always tried to be a man of action.
The artist must be a man of imagination.
I have always tried to make my music a message of hope.
The theatre is a place where the spirit soars.
I have always tried to be a man of progress.
The artist must be a man of feeling.
I have always tried to make my music a celebration of life.
The theatre is a place where the soul is nourished.
Life for me has no meaning if it is not intertwined with music.
To copy the masters is the best way to learn.
I am a farmer who happened to compose some music.
The orchestra must serve the drama, not dominate it.
Silence is the true music of the soul.
In music, as in life, passion is the spark that ignites genius.
I have always preferred the countryside to the clamor of cities.
Opera is the art of making the invisible visible through sound.
Age is no barrier to creation; it is experience that fuels it.
The heart speaks through melody what words cannot express.
Contemporaries of Giuseppe Verdi
Other Musics born within 50 years of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901).