Quote

I never studied, but I had the best teachers.

Mstislav Rostropovich

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mstislav Rostropovich
Age: 80 †
Born: 1927
Born: March 27
Died: 2007
Died: April 27
Cellist
Composer
Conductor
Music Pedagogue
Pianist
City of Winds
Mstislav Leopodovich Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich
Studied
Teachers
Teacher
Best
Never

More quotes by Mstislav Rostropovich

Image
Baalbek is so beautiful. It is the heart of beauty in the Middle East - I want to embrace these people with my music. I will try so hard for them. Their president is a Christian, their prime minister is a Muslim. Music is for everyone.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
I like coming to the United States because the United States played an important role in my life.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
I came to Moscow when I was 5 years old from Baku. To walk all night in Moscow will bring back my youth to me.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
It is my aim, my destination in life to make the cello as beloved an instrument as the violin and piano.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
I played with the best conductors of the world.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
The artist must forget the audience, forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music. Then, the music speaks through the performance, and the performer and the listener will walk together with the soul of the composer, and with God.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
You know creators, composers, need a palette for life, a color for life.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
In 1948 the first severe crash occurred in my life when Stalin put out his decree on formalism. There was a bulletin board in the Moscow Conservatory. They posted the decree, which said Shostakovichs compositions and Prokofievs were no longer to be played.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
All my life I wanted to play music with love to every member of the audience.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It's a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
There is too much emphasis on technical perfection nowadays, and not enough on what music is actually about - irony, joy, human suffering, love.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
Capitalism, communism ... it's all garbage.
Mstislav Rostropovich
Image
The cello is a hero because of its register - its tenor voice. It is a masculine instrument, whereas the violin is feminine because of its soprano pitch. When the cello enters in the Dvorak Concerto, it is like a great orator.
Mstislav Rostropovich