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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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I hope you will no longer accuse me of a lack of delicacy. as I now count on your understanding.
Gustav Mahler
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Behind me the branches of a wasted and sterile existence are cracking.
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In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music, meant to be listened to in a small space by a small audience.
Gustav Mahler
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Only when I experience do I compose - only when I compose do I experience.
Gustav Mahler
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Don't bother looking at the view - I have already composed it.
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In the theatrical works we love and admire the most, the ending of the drama generally takes place offstage.
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Tradition is laziness.
Gustav Mahler
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An operetta is simply a small and gay opera.
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.
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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It's not just a question of conquering a summit previously unknown, but of tracing, step by step, a new pathway to it.
Gustav Mahler
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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.
Gustav Mahler
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Even if people censure me, they should do so hat in hand.
Gustav Mahler
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It is easier to achieve a desired result in short pieces.
Gustav Mahler
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I beg of you... never assume an inner or an outer pose, never a disguise.
Gustav Mahler
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In Bach, the vital cells of music are united as the world is in God.
Gustav Mahler
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Don't bother to look, I've composed all this already.
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.
Gustav Mahler
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Melodic invention is one of the surest signs of a divine gift.
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