Grumpy composer quotes: 12 humbug moments

Composers aren't always the most cheerful of people, and when they were really grumpy they came out with amazing, whiny, complaining zingers like this. Humbug, anyone?

1. 

   1. Bach

   "If I decide to be an idiot, then I'll be an idiot on my own accord." - J.S. Bach

2. 

   2. Debussy

   "People don't very much like things that are beautiful — they are so far from their nasty little minds." - Claude Debussy

3. 

   3. Mozart

   "Our riches, being in our brains, die with us... Unless of course someone chops off our head, in which case, we won't need them anyway." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

4. 

   4. Copland

   "I don't compose. I assemble materials."

5. 

   5. Wagner

   "Music has taken a bad turn; these young people have no idea how to write a melody, they just give us shavings." - Richard Wagner

7. 

   6. Stravinsky

   "To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also." - Igor Stravinsky

8. 

   7. Tchaikovsky

   "To regret the past, to hope in the future, and never to be satisfied with the present: that is what I spend my whole life doing." - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

9. 

   8. Satie

   "When I was young I was told, 'you'll see when you're fifty.' I am fifty and I haven't seen a thing." - Erik Satie

10. 

    9. Brahms

    "If there is anyone present whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon." Johannes Brahms

11. 

    10. Cage

    "There is poetry as soon as we realise that we possess nothing." - John Cage

13. 

    11. Bizet

    "What a beautiful art, but what a wretched profession." - Goerges Bizet

14. 

    12. Beethoven

    "Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear." - Ludwig van Beethoven

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