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    Symphony No.2 in D major Opus 73 (2) Johannes Brahms Download 'Symphony No.2 in D major Opus 73 (2)' on iTunes

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    Grumpy composer quotes: 12 humbug moments

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    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. grumpy composer quotes

      1. Bach

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

    2. grumpy composer quotes

      2. Debussy

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

    3. grumpy composer quotes

      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. grumpy composer quotes

      4. Copland

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

    5. grumpy composer quotes

      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

    6. grumpy composer quotes

      6. Stravinsky

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

    7. grumpy composer quotes

      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

    8. grumpy composer quotes

      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

    9. grumpy composer quotes

      9. Brahms

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

    10. grumpy composer quotes

      10. Cage

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

    11. grumpy composer quotes

      11. Bizet

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

    12. grumpy composer quotes

      12. Beethoven

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

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