• Register
  • |
  • Sign in
skip to navigation

Classic FM

On Air Now

Alexander Armstrong 1pm - 3pm

Alexander Armstrong

Now Playing

Parce mihi Domine Christobal De Morales Download 'Parce mihi Domine' on iTunes

Parce mihi Domine artwork
  • Playlist
  • Schedule
Listen
  • Home
  • Radio
  • News
  • Discover Music
  • Composers
  • Artists
  • Lifestyle
  • Events
  • Win
  • Store
  • Charity
  • Sign in / Register
  • Follow us on:
    Follow Classic FM on Twitter
    Follow Classic FM on Facebook
    Follow Classic FM on Instagram
    Follow Classic FM on Youtube

Discover Music

Latest

Letters of the great composers: 12 moving, funny and inspiring quotations from the documents they left behind

Many of the great composers were prolific letter writers and the letters they left behind – to friends, patrons, siblings and lovers – are a fascinating insight into some of the greatest people who ever lived.

  1. Beethoven composer letters

    1. Beethoven

    "My thoughts go out to you, my immortal beloved… I can live only wholly with you or not at all."

  2. Composer letters

    2. Mendelssohn

    "I lie under apple-trees and huge oaks, I eat strawberries with my coffee, at dinner and supper."

  3. Composer letters

    3. Schubert

    "There can be scarcely anything more agreeable than to enjoy the green country on an evening after a hot summer's day. My heart warmed within me."

  4. Composer letters

    4. Mahler

    "Today I took my breakfast on the veranda. There's nothing like it on Earth."

  5. mozart letter quotes

    5. Mozart

    "An astonishing number of kisses are flying about! I see a whole crowd of them. Ha! Ha! I have just caught three — They are delicious… I kiss you millions of times." - To Constanze Mozart, September 1790

  6. Composer letters

    6. Janáček

    "I hear music constantly in the empty silence, while the intellect is still and all emotional strings are relaxed."

  7. Elgar composer letter

    7. Elgar composer letter

    "Some day the press will awake to the fact that the living centre of music in Great Britain… is not London but somewhere further North."

  8. Composer letters

    8. Berlioz

    "Sometimes, I would station myself in the midst of a landscape in harmony with my mood, and some passage from the Aeneid, would come back to me."

  9. Composer letters

    9. Tchaikovsky

    "The thought that this paper is going to be in your hands fills me with joy and brings tears to my eyes."

  10. Composer letters

    10. Beethoven

    "Oh! how happy should I now be, had I my full sense of hearing."

  11. Great composer muses

    11. Brahms

    "I wish I could write to you as tenderly as I love you and tell you all the good things that I wish you. You are so infinitely dear to me, dearer than I can say."

  12. Elgar composer letter

    12. Elgar

    "I always said God was against art and I still believe it."

Latest features

See more Latest features

Menuhin Competition RPO

Diana Adamyan just won the 2018 Menuhin Competition - and her winning Bruch concerto was astonishing

15 hours ago

Christian Li

This 10-year-old Australian violin prodigy is so good you might cry

1 day ago

Fantine rough deal in Les Mis

10 reasons why Fantine gets a pretty rough deal in Les Misérables

2 days ago

Case Notes Peter Warlock

Who was Peter Warlock? And how did he die?

3 days ago

Quiz: Can you name the violin parts

Quiz: Can you name all the parts of a violin?

3 days ago

Browse by

See more Browse by

Periods & genres

Periods & genres

Occasions

Occasions

Moods

Moods

Instruments

Instruments

Back to top

Today's Hot Searches

  • brahms
  • vivaldi
  • bach
  • tchaikovsky
  • chopin
  • andrea bocelli
  • beethoven
  • mozart
  • classical music tear jerkers
  • best classical music
  • Classic FM Live
  • classic fm christmas station
  • classic fm requests
  • john suchet
  • classic fm 25th birthday
  • piano world record
  • eric whitacre's hair
  • best pianists
  • harry potter music
  • classic fm app
  • saturday night at the movies
  • smooth classics
  • star wars soundtrack
  • best sopranos
  • best cellists
  • composer or pasta
  • music for studying
  • best violinists
  • sad music
  • composer birthdays
  • relaxing music

Useful Links

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • How To Listen
  • About Classic FM
  • Company Details
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • Terms & Conditions

Latest From Twitter

    Classic FM ‐ @classicfm

  • Join Alexander Armstrong for great music and good company on Classic FM this Sunday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/qnm3Jd3PXz

Follow Us

Follow Classic FM on Twitter
Follow Classic FM on Facebook
Follow Classic FM on Instagram
Follow Classic FM on Youtube
© Global 2018
30 Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7LA

We use cookies on our site. By continuing to browse you are agreeing to our use of these cookies.

View more info Close