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 adore art, but I adore it as a means, not as an end.
To copy the truth may be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.
Return to the old! It will be progress.
The score is not a piano reduction. It is a living thing.
I want to write for the stage, not for the salon.
The public is not always right, but it is always there.
I am not a learned musician, but I am a man of the theater.
Art is a mission, not a profession.
I believe in inspiration, but I believe even more in hard work.
The most beautiful melodies are those that are born from the heart.
The opera must be a drama in music.
I have always tried to serve the drama, not to dominate it.
The voice is an instrument, but it is also a soul.
I am not a revolutionary, but I am not a conservative either.
The theater is a mirror of life.
Music is the language of the soul.
I have always composed with my heart, not with my head.
I have always tried to express the truth, even if it is a harsh truth.
The public is the best judge.
I have always tried to create characters that are alive.
Contemporaries of Giuseppe Verdi
Other Musics born within 50 years of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901).