Top 8 Quotes & Sayings by Herbert von Karajan

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan.
Last updated on November 25, 2024.
Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during the Second World War he conducted at the Berlin State Opera. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records.

No music is vulgar, unless it is played in a way that makes it so.
Quick music sounds dull unless every note is articulated.
He who reaches all his goals has probably not chosen them high enough. — © Herbert von Karajan
He who reaches all his goals has probably not chosen them high enough.
The art of conducting consists in knowing when to stop conducting to let the orchestra play.
If I tell the Berliners to step forward, they do it. If I tell the Viennese to step forward, they do it, but then they ask why.
Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low.
In our profession someone can be very brilliant and acquire total technical mastery. Yet in the last resort, the only thing that really counts is his quality as a human being. For music is created by Man for Man. And if someone sees nothing more than notes in it, this can perhaps be very interesting, but it cannot enrich him. And music should exist for one purpose only; to enrich Man and give him something he has lost in most respects.
I have often said to the orchestra, especially to the younger players, 'Do your best, and love what you are doing, because you are allowed to do this thing.' By this I mean, they can do what millions of people cannot do. Many people cannot think of playing music or listening to it until six o'clock in the evening. To be involved professionally in a thing as creative as this is a great privilege and we have a duty to make it in such a way that we can help bring pleasure and a sense of fulfillment to those who are not so fortunate.
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