Richard Strauss

"If my works are good and of any importance for the further development of our art, they will maintain their position in spite of all opposition on the part of critics, and in spite of all denigration of my artistic intentions. If they are worthtless, not even the most gratifying box office success or the most enthusiastic acclamation of augurs will keep them alive. Let the pulping press devour them...I shall not shed a tear over their grave."

"I am convinced that the decisive factor in dramatic effect will be a smaller orchestra, which does not drown out the human voice as does a large orchestra…The orchestra of the opera of the future is the chamber orchestra which, by painting in the background of the action on the stage with crystalline clearness, can alone realise precisely the intention of the composer with regard to the vocal parts. It is after all an important desideratum that the audience should not only hear the sounds but should also be able to follow the words closely."

"Producers of opera nowadays usually make the mistake of translating each particular orchestral phrase into terms of a movement on the stage. In this matter one should proceed with a maximum of caution and good taste. There is no objection to bringing life to into the production by changes of position and new nuances of acting during repetitive passages of music, especially in arias. Preludes of one or two bars frequently, and especially in Mozart, clearly express some gesture on stage. But each trill on the flute does not represent a wink on the prima donna, nor every delayed chord on the strings a step or gesture. Whole passages, especially in the finales, are pure concert music and are best left undisturbed by “play acting”."

"Conducting is, after all, a difficult business – one has to be seventy years of age to realise this fully!"

"The left hand has nothing to do with conducting. Its proper place is the waistcoat pocket from which it should only emerge to restrain or make some minor gesture for which in any case a scarcely perceptible glance should suffice."

"It is better to conduct with the ear instead of with the arm: the rest follows automatically."

"Ten Golden Rules (for the album of a young conductor)"

":1. Remember you are making music not to amuse yourself but to delight the audience."

":2. You should not perspire when conducting: only the audience should get warm."

":3. Conduct 'Salome' and 'Elektra' as if they were by Mendelssohn: fairy music."

":4. Never look encouragingly at the brass, except with a short glance to give an important cue."

":5. But never let the horns and woodwind out of your sight: if you can hear them at all they are still too strong."

":6. If you think that the brass is not blowing hard enough, tone it down another shade or two."

":7. It is not enough that you yourself can hear every word the soloist sings - you know it off by heart anyway: the audience must be able to follow without effort. If they do not understand the words they will go to sleep."

":8. Always accompany a singer in such a way that he can sing without effort."

":9. When you think you have reached the limits of prestissimo, go twice as fast. (1948 Today, I should like to ammend this as follows: Go twice as slowly - addressed to conductors of Mozart)."

":10. If you follow these rules carefully you will, with your fine gifts and great accomplishments, always be the darling of your listeners."

"When during my stay in Egypt I became familiar with the works of Nietzsche, whose polemic against christianity was particularly to my liking, the antipathy which I had always felt against a religion which relieves the faithful of responsibility for their actions (by means of confession) was confirmed and strengthened."

"Melody as revealed in the greatest works of our classics is one of the most noble gifts which an invisible deity has bestowed on mankind."

"Mozart's melodies, Beethoven's symphonies, Schubert's songs, acts two and three of Tristan are symbols in which are revealed the most profound spiritual truths. They are not "invented", but are "given in their dreams"to those privileged to receive them. Whence they come no one knows, not even their creator, the unconscious mouthpiece of the demiurge."

"The melodic idea which suddenly falls upon me out of the blue appears in the imagination immediately, unconsciously, uninfluenced by reason. It is the greatest gift of the divinity and cannot be compared with anything else."

"Of all god-gifted dispensers of joy, Johann Strauss is to me the most endearing. I willingly admit to having sometimes conducted the Perpetuum Mobile with far more pleasure than many a four movement symphony."

"As for the Rosenkavalier waltzes...how could I have done those without a thought of the laughing genius of Vienna?"

"In my opinion, Gustav Mahler's work is one of the most important and interesting products in the history of modern creative arts."

"I know what I want, and I know what I meant when I wrote this. After all, I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer."

"My wife, my child, my music, Nature and the sun; they are my happiness."

"Anybody who wants to be a real musician must be able to set a menu to music."

"I am not one to compose long melodies as did Mozart. I can’t get beyond short themes. But what I can do, is utilize such a theme, paraphrase it and extract everything that is in it, and I don’t think there’s anybody today who can match me in that."

"Why don't people see what is new in my work, how in them, as is found only in Beethoven, the human being visibly plays a part in the work."

"Thirty years ago I was regarded as a rebel, but to-day, as you see, I have lived to find myself a classic."

"I hope, most revered Maestro, that these metronome markings, in my opinion wholly unneeded by you, are specific enough. Where they do not fit with your conception, I implore you urgently just to ignore them."

"It is clear to me that the German nation will achieve new creative energy only by liberating itself from Christianity"

"Very fine, but why do you put so many wrong notes in? Basically, it is all built on simple triads."

"More like a sacrilege du printemps."

"Declarations about war and politics are not fitting for an artist, who must give his attention to his creations and his works."

"Man (in B major) asks: When? When? Nature, (in C Major) answers from the depths Never, never, never will the weather improve"."

"Long live the politico-satrical-parodistic opera!"

"It is difficult composing endings. Beethoven and Wagner could do it. Only great composers can do it. I can do it too."

"Strauss told me about his new ballet, which he wrote in the summer. It’s called ‘Schlagobers’ (whipped cream) and he said, jokingly: ‘Oh yes, when one gets old one has ideas like that.’"

"Please start from the Bruch violin concerto again!"

"I ask myself why I have actually survived once more and been called back to life."

"I was never revolutionary. The only revolutionary in our time was Strauss!"

"I believe that he (Strauss) will remain one of the characteristic and outstanding figures in musical history. Works like Salome, Elektra and Intermezzo, and others will not perish."

"I would like to admit all Strauss operas to whichever purgatory punishes triumphant banality. Their musical substance is cheap and poor; it cannot interest a musician today."

"I watched him at rehearsals and admired the way he conducted. Every corrective remark he made was exact: his ears and his musicianship were impregnable."

"Richard Strauss? An old Oyster!"

"Richard Strauss is a brilliant pig - I can find no other word for it. The whole thing is larded with illogical, unnecessary and hideous discord."

"No other composer equals Strauss in his power of writing long stretches of music that interests us in and for itself, at the same time that every line and colour in it seems to express some new trait of the individual who is being sketched."

"Salome again made an extraordinary impression on me. It is entirely a work of genius, very powerful and decidedly one of the most important things that our age has produced."

"I labour on with countless rehearsals. He makes do with just a few, and it always sounds right."