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 expressive.
The theater is a temple of art.
I am a peasant, and I shall die a peasant.
Art is truth, and truth is beauty.
The theatre is a great school, but it is also a great danger.
I love music, but I love it only when it is true.
I have always believed that the artist should be a man of his time.
The public is a strange beast; it must be fed, but it must not be overfed.
I am not a learned musician, but I am a man who feels.
The more I study, the more I am convinced that music is a language that speaks to the heart.
I write for the stage, and for the stage alone.
My heart is full of sorrow, but my spirit is strong.
I have always tried to make my music simple, but not simplistic.
The artist must be free, absolutely free.
I am not a revolutionary, but I am a man who believes in progress.
I have always tried to express the truth of human passions.
The artist must be sincere, always sincere.
I am a man of the people, and I write for the people.
The most important thing in music is expression.
I have always tried to make my music sing.
Contemporaries of Giuseppe Verdi
Other Musics born within 50 years of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901).