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Arnold Schoenberg
20 quotes
“An artistic impression is substantially the resultant of two components. One what the work of art gives the onlooker — the other, what he is capable of giving to the work of art.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Artistic Impression" (1909) in Style and Idea (1985), p. 189
“Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value. … Unqualified judgment can at most claim to decide the market-value — a value that can be in inverse proportion to the intrinsic value.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Artistic Impression" (1909) in Style and Idea (1985), p. 190
“Although our "gentle air" cannot improve the way hate and envy look, it does seem not to encourage firmness and decision. All is compromise; caution and refinement are everywhere. Everything has to "make a good impression" — whether or not it is any good: the impression is the main thing.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About Music Criticism" (1909), in Style and Idea (1985), p. 196
“I have just read your book [On the Spiritual in Art] from cover to cover, and I will read it once more. I find it pleasing to an extraordinary degree, because we agree on nearly all of the main issues..”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1911 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter to Wassily Kandinsky, 18 Dec. 1911; as quoted in Schönberg and Kandinsky: An Historic Encounter, by Klaus Kropfinger; edited by Konrad Boehmer; published by Routledge (imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa…
“Now we will throw these mediocre kitsch-mongers into slavery, and teach them to venerate the German spirit and to worship the German God.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Arnold Schoenberg, in a letter to Alma Mahler, 1914 (after the outbreak of the First World War); as quoted in "Impressions of War" by Philip Clark, The Gramophone, 4 August 2014
“There are no more geniuses, only critics.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Those Who Complain about the Decline" (1923), in Style and Idea (1985), p. 203
“Hauer looks for laws. Good. But he looks for them where he will not find them.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hauer's Theories" (Notes of 9 May 1923), in Style and Idea (1985), p. 209
“I find above all that the expression, "atonal music," is most unfortunate — it is on a par with calling flying "the art of not falling," or swimming "the art of not drowning.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hauer's Theories" (Notes of November 1923), in Style and Idea (1985), p. 210
“If music is frozen architecture, then the potpourri is frozen coffee-table gossip... Potpourri is the art of adding apples to pears…”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quote from Glosses on the Theories of Others (1929); also in Style and Idea (1985), p. 313-314
“My work should be judged as it enters the ears and heads of listeners, not as it is described to the eyes of readers.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in an interview with José Rodriguez (c. 1936) in Schoenberg (1971) by Merle Armitage, p. 143
“I see the work as a whole first. Then I compose the details. In working out, I always lose something. This cannot be avoided. There is always some loss when we materialize. But there is compensating gain in vitality.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in an interview with José Rodriguez (c. 1936) in Schoenberg (1971) by Merle Armitage, p. 149
“There is a great Man living in this country — a composer. He has solved the problem how to preserve one's self and to learn. He responds to negligence by contempt. He is not forced to accept praise or blame. His name is Ives.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Note of 1944; as quoted in the Charles Ives profile at Decca Classics
“...if it is art, it is not for all, and if it is for all, it is not art.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: from New Music, Outmoded Music, Style and Idea (1946); as quoted in Style and Idea (1985), p. 124
“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.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Arnold Schoenberg, (1946); as quoted in A Schoenberg reader - Documents of a life, edited by Joseph Auner, Yale University Press 2003, page 316-17
“I have never seen faces, but because I have looked people in the eye, only their gazes.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Red Gaze"' in Expressionism (2004) by Norbert Wolf, p. 92
“My music is not lovely.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Theodor Adorno in his essay "Art and the Arts", 1966, reproduced in Clausen 2008, 387).
“My music is not modern, it is merely badly played”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Genette, Gérard. 1997. Immanence and Transcendence, translated by G. M. Goshgarian. p. 102
“My works are 12-tone compositions, not 12-tone compositions”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz. 1977, in Schoenberg: His Life, World and Work; translated from the German by Humphrey Searle. p. 349.
“I was never revolutionary. The only revolutionary in our time was Strauss!”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Schoenberg, Arnold. 1975, in Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. Edited by Leonard Stein, with translations by Leo Black. p. 137
“I am delighted to add another unplayable work to the repertoire.”
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his Violin Concerto (Op. 36), as quoted in Schoenberg (1971) by Merle Armitage, p. 149