Give me some music – music, moody food
Of us that trade in love. William Shakespeare, Anthony & Cleopatra II v 1
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII III i 12
Too many notes, dear Mozart, and too beautiful for our ears. Emperor Joseph II, variations
Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpoints to have post-horses. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I often wonder whether Life is worth living. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Concerto in A for Clarinet was written by Mozart in Vienna in October 1791. It proved to be one of his last compositions. In Search of Mozart, Sky Arts 2012
Mozart never attended school; he was taught everything he knew by his father. Above all music. ibid.
Mozart also learned Italian, which was the international language of opera. ibid.
Mozart was fortunate to have come to Vienna at a time when enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality were making themselves felt. ibid.
It is believed Mozart died of rheumatic fever and kidney failure. He was 35 years old. He was not poisoned. Nor was he a pauper when he died. His body was sewn in a linen sack and, as was common practice, buried in a communal grave. Constanze carefully nurtured Mozart’s legacy. She married a Danish diplomat in 1809 and died in 1842. Mozart’s sister Nannerl [Marianne] had married in 1784 and died, aged 78, in 1829. ibid. caption
Mozart: other worldly genius. Child-like nymph. Divine gift from god. The Joy of Mozart, BBC 2015
Born in Saltsburg in 1756, he composed over six hundred pieces of catalogued music. ibid.
While in London, and at just eight years of age, Mozart had composed this – his first ever symphony. Lucy Worsley: Mozart’s London Odyssey, BBC 2016
These letters … betray Leopold’s dawning realization that Georgian London could be a very unforgiving place. ibid.
In Mozart and Salieri we see the contrast between the genius which does what it must and the talent which does what it can. Maurice Maring, 1874-1945, English man of letters
There is nothing to it. You only have to hit the right notes at the right time and the instrument plays itself. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750
Johann Sebastian Bach is the ultimate composer’s composer influencing countless others who followed him from Mozart to Mendelssohn to Beethoven to Brahms, and not just in classical music – from Duke Ellington to the Beatles ... Bach is still the benchmark. A musical gold standard. John Eliot Gardiner, Bach: A Passionate Life BBC 2013
Exactly where Bach was born remains a mystery. ibid.
Not only did Luther want the Bible to be in the language of the people he also wanted them to be able to join in the music. ibid.
Bach Museum: more documents have come to light. ibid.
Wonderfully consoling and uplifting quality to it. ibid.
His first wife was to die at just the age of thirty-five. ibid.
Without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, Or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer
Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. Victor Hugo
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. Albert Einstein
Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid. Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. Plato
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week. Charles Darwin, Autobiography
The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats. Albert Schweitzer
Play it fuckin’ loud. Bob Dylan
I had ambitions to er set out and find like an odyssey, going home somewhere and set up to find this home that I’d left awhile back … Bob Dylan, No Direction Home I, 2005
We didn’t have the clothes that we have now … There really wasn’t any philosophy or … ideology to go against. ibid.
He’s changed from what he was. He’s not the same as he was at first. ibid. British fan post-concert
Woody Guthie: he had a particular sound. And he said something to go along with his sound. That was highly unusual to my ears. ibid. Dylan
Fantastic. Very good. ibid. British fan post-concert
Hey, her, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song, about a funny old world that’s moving along.’ ibid. song lyric
It was very much the spirit of the time. ibid. fan
The land that I live in has God on its side … Oh the country was young with God on its side. ibid. song lyric
The process was new to me. I felt like I’d discovered something no-one else had ever discovered, and I was in a certain arena artistically that no-one else had ever been in before. Ever. Although, I might have been wrong about that. ibid. Dylan
Fan: What happened to Woody Guthrie, Bob?
Bob: These are all protest songs. Now come on. Bob Dylan, No Direction Home II
All my sons are protest songs. ibid.
No-one had heard anything like this before. ibid. fan
I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things. Tom Waits
Music makes one feel so romantic – at least it always gets on one’s nerves - which is the same thing nowadays. Oscar Wilde
Music ... will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Without music life would be a blank to me. Jane Austen, Emma
I mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course. Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing: A Play
I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear. Freddie Mercury
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
and silently steal away. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Ignore all hatred and criticism. Live for what you create, and die protecting it. Lady Gaga
For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall. Eric Clapton