To some it is Napoleon; to some it is Alexander the Great; to some it
is philosophical struggle. To me it is simply Allegro con Brio.
[discussing the first movement of Beethoven's third (Eroica) symphony.
Other versions of this quote have Toscanini saying, Some say this is
Napoleon; some Hitler; some Mussolini. To me it is simply Allegro Con
Brio.]
"If you want to please only the critics, don't play too loud, too soft,
too fast and too slow".
I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since.
[of German composer Richard Strauss, who accepted the sponsorship of the Nazis while Hitler was in power] To Strauss the composer I take off my hat. To Strauss the man I put it on again.
After I die, I shall return to earth as a gatekeeper of a bordello and I won't let any of you enter.
Liberty, in my opinion, is the only orthodoxy within the limits of which art may express itself and flourish freely-liberty that is the best of all things in the life of man, if it is all one with wisdom and virtue.
I hate you all because you destroy my dreams!
God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way.
Can't you read? The score demands 'con amore', and what are you doing? You are playing it like married men!