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)
The quartet is the composer's laboratory.
Doubt is the spur to creation.
Mendelssohn's grace inspires my every bar.
To err in music is human; to forgive, divine.
My requiem is for the living, not the dead.
Harmony is the soul of counterpoint.
Aging brings wisdom to the composer's hand.
The lied is poetry set to eternal music.
Critics are like eunuchs; they know but cannot.
In music, truth lies in the silence between notes.
My variations are themes reborn.
Friendship with artists is my greatest treasure.
The sonata form is architecture in sound.
I laugh at my own imperfections in jest.
Eternal beauty in fugue's intricate dance.
Life's melody fades, but music endures.
Chopin’s nocturnes whisper secrets of the night.
Perseverance turns the mediocre into gold.
The heart's rhythm dictates the score.
I jest about my baldness, but not my music.
Contemporaries of Johannes Brahms
Other Musics born within 50 years of Johannes Brahms (1833–1897).