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I don't choose what I compose. It chooses me.

Gustav Mahler

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Gustav Mahler
Age: 50 †
Born: 1860
Born: July 7
Died: 1911
Died: May 18
Classical Composer
Composer
Conductor
Musician
Mahler
Compose
Chooses
Choose

More quotes by Gustav Mahler

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The further the music develops, the more complex the apparatus used by the composer to express his thoughts becomes.
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Don't bother to look, I've composed all this already.
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An operetta is simply a small and gay opera.
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Even if people censure me, they should do so hat in hand.
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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.
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Don't bother looking at the view - I have already composed it.
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Fortunately, something always remains to be harvested. So let us not be idle.
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I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed.
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In the theatrical works we love and admire the most, the ending of the drama generally takes place offstage.
Gustav Mahler
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Behind me the branches of a wasted and sterile existence are cracking.
Gustav Mahler
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A full cup of wine at the right time is worth more than all the kingdoms of this earth!
Gustav Mahler
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The real art of conducting consists in transitions.
Gustav Mahler
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Life's been nothing but paperwork.
Gustav Mahler
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But it's peculiar, as soon as I am in the midst of nature and by myself, everything that is base and trivial vanishes without trace. On such days nothing scares me and this helps me again and again.
Gustav Mahler
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When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.
Gustav Mahler
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I was a crazy young man who let himself be blinded by his passions and obeyed only the impulses of the moment.
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There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note.
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It is always the same with me only when I experience something do I compose, and only when composing do I experience! After all, a musician's nature can hardly be expressed in words.
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I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way.
Gustav Mahler
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Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos.
Gustav Mahler