Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahlerwas an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his...
NationalityAustrian
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth7 July 1860
CountryAustria
A true "personality" . . . is like a robust organism that, with unconscious sureness, seeks out and digests the nourishment appropriate to it and vigorously rejects that which is unsuitable.
It is a funny thing, but when I am making music, all the answers I seek for in life seem to be there, in the music. Or rather, I should say, when I am making music, there are no questions and no need for answers.
The impressions of the spriritual experiences gave my future life its form and content.
You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion.
Melodic invention is one of the surest signs of a divine gift.
Fortunately, something always remains to be harvested. So let us not be idle.
It should be one’s sole endeavor to see everything afresh and create it anew.
Tradition is tending the flame, not worshiping the ashes.
Behind me the branches of a wasted and sterile existence are cracking.
Tradition is laziness.
Life's been nothing but paperwork.
It's not just a question of conquering a summit previously unknown, but of tracing, step by step, a new pathway to it.
When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.
I live like a Hottentot. I cannot exchange one sensible word with anyone.