Johannes Brahms
Master of symphonic and chamber music
Most quoted
"I have always been a great admirer of Bach, but I have never been able to understand why people make such a fuss about his fugues. They are very clever, but they are not beautiful."
— from Various anecdotes
"I am of the opinion that the public is usually wrong in its judgment of new works, but that after twenty or thirty years it finally corrects its own verdict."
— from Attributed
"I have never been able to understand why people make such a fuss about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It is a very good work, but it is not a masterpiece."
— from Various anecdotes
All quotes by Johannes Brahms (379)
Bach is the father, Beethoven the son, and I, perhaps, the holy spirit of music.
I compose because I must; the notes demand to be born.
True art is ever unpopular in its own time.
The piano is my confidant; it knows all my secrets.
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration in music too.
I fear the day when my muse abandons me.
Schubert's melodies are heaven's gift to earth.
To compose is to arrange the chaos of emotions into order.
Humor in music? Only if it serves the profound.
My life is my music; the rest is incidental.
Beethoven's shadow looms large; I walk in it humbly.
Inspiration comes not from without, but from within the soul.
I revise until the last drop of blood is squeezed out.
Music is the shorthand of emotion.
The orchestra is my army; I command it with baton.
Solitude is the composer's best friend.
Wagner's music is noise to my ears.
Every note must sing; otherwise, discard it.
Life without passion is like music without rhythm.
I am a child of Bach and Beethoven.
Contemporaries of Johannes Brahms
Other Musics born within 50 years of Johannes Brahms (1833–1897).