Richard Strauss Quotes

The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play.

He'd be better off shoveling snow.

Never look at the trombones, you'll just encourage them.

Bear in mind that you are not making music for your own pleasure, but for the pleasure of your audience.

If you think that the brass is not blowing loud enough, mute it by a couple of degrees.

On conducting: If you can just barely hear the French horns on stage, the balance is perfect.

Never let the horns and woodwinds out of your sight; if you can hear them at all, they are too loud.

I shall never be converted, and I shall remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life's end.

Don't perspire while conducting - only the audience should get warm.

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.

Ideas, like young wine, should be put in storage and taken up again only after they have been allowed to ferment and to ripen.

I want to be able to depict in music a glass of beer so accurately that every listener can tell whether it is a Pilsner or a Kulmbacher.

Must one become seventy years old to recognize that one's greatest strength lies in creating musical kitsch?

Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.

The aria, after all, is the soul of opera.

Never look at the brass - it only encourages them.

Never look encouragingly at the brass, except with a brief glance to give an important cue.