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You should neither play bad compositions, nor, unless compelled, listen to them.

Robert Schumann

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Robert Schumann
Age: 46 †
Born: 1810
Born: June 8
Died: 1856
Died: July 29
Composer
Conductor
Music Critic
Music Pedagogue
Musician
Musicologist
Pianist
Robert Alexander Schumann
Unless
Listen
Play
Compositions
Compelled
Composition
Neither

More quotes by Robert Schumann

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My indifference to money and my spendthrift ways are disgraceful. You have no idea how reckless I am how often I practically throw money out of the window. I am always making good resolutions, but the next minute I forget and give the waiter eightpence.
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Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too.
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The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would burn still clearer, and I might go far.
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My symphonies would have reached Opus 100 if I had but written them down... Sometimes I am so full of music, and so overflowing with melody, that I find it simply impossible to write down anything.
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Perhaps only a Genius can truly understand Genius.
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It is the curse of talent that, although it labors with greater steadiness and perseverance than genius, it does not reach its goal, while genius already on the summit of the ideal, gazes laughingly about.
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You write to become immortal, or because the piano happens to be open, or you've looked into a pair of beautiful eyes.
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Confidence and courage are special skills to the art ... Within the four walls of his study, the artist should be modest, work diligently and conscientiously. While for the public, he'll show himself audacious, yes even into cheerful boldness. And so a new public's darling has arisen.
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Talent works, genius creates.
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Art was not created as a way to riches. Strive to become a true artist all else will take care of itself.
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When young, one learns his craftsmanship, may become a young master, and it is youth that is most auspicious for developing certain skills.
Robert Schumann
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For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond.
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My heart pounds sickeningly and I turn pale... I often feel as if I were dead... I seem to be losing my mind.
Robert Schumann
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We liked it or I didn't like it people say. As if it were nothing higher than to please the people!
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If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place.
Robert Schumann
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Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.
Robert Schumann
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For me Wagner is impossible... he talks without ever stopping. One can't just talk all the time.
Robert Schumann
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Mendelssohn I consider the first musician of the day I doff my hat to him as my superior. He plays with everything, especially with the grouping of the instruments in the orchestra, but with such ease, delicacy and art, with such mastery throughout.
Robert Schumann
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It was an unforgettable picture to see Chopin sitting at the piano like a clairvoyant, lost in his dreams to see how his vision communicated itself through his playing, and how, at the end of each piece, he had the sad habit of running one finger over the length of the plaintive keyboard, as though to tear himself forcibly away from his dream.
Robert Schumann
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Remember, there are more people in the world than yourself. Be modest! You have not yet invented nor thought anything which others have not thought or invented before. And should you really have done so, consider it a gift of heaven which you are to share with others.
Robert Schumann