Gustav Mahler
Visionary symphonist who bridged Romanticism and Modernism
Most quoted
"The important thing is never to let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries; to continue steadfastly on one's way without letting oneself be either defeated by failure or diverted by applause."
— from Letter, 1902
"The further I get in my development, the more I see that the ultimate goal of the artist is to achieve *through his art* the picture of the world which is purely his own."
— from Letter to Max Marschalk, 1896
"The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause."
— from Letter to Max Kalbeck, 1902
All quotes by Gustav Mahler (346)
A work of art must have within it the seeds of its own destruction; it must point beyond itself.
I am like a blind man groping in the dark.
When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.
The artist... is nothing but a tool of a higher power, a medium.
I am composing my own requiem.
Only when I experience do I compose—only when I compose do I experience.
The key to my works is that I am a musician who is struggling with the problems of existence.
I need the whole world for my art, and my art needs the whole world.
The worst is when one has to conduct bad music. Then one feels like an executioner.
My symphonies represent the contents of my entire life.
I am a man of my time, and I suffer from its sicknesses.
The artist is not a 'citizen of the world'; he is a citizen of his own soul.
In the Adagio of my Tenth Symphony, I have written my own death knell.
One must accept life as it is, with all its contradictions and absurdities.
I am not master of my inspiration; I am its servant.
The folk song is the musical expression of the soul of a people.
I feel like a man who has been shipwrecked and clings to a plank.
A great performance is a re-creation, not an imitation.
I have often been told that my music is too complicated. But life is complicated.
The true interpreter is the one who disappears behind the work.
Contemporaries of Gustav Mahler
Other Musics born within 50 years of Gustav Mahler (1860–1911).