Herbert von Karajan Quotes

• Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Lows, Aim

  "Die 7 Geheimnisse der Dirigenten-Legende". Bild.de, April 4, 2008.

  40 Copy quote

• The art of conducting consists in knowing when to stop conducting to let the orchestra play.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Art, Play, Knowing

  61 Copy quote

• 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.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Mean, Thinking, Player

  56 Copy quote

• He who reaches all his goals has probably not chosen them high enough.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Goal, Enough, Chosen

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• 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.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Men, Giving, Interesting

  28 Copy quote

• Quick music sounds dull unless every note is articulated.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Sound, Dull, Notes

  Herbert von Karajan, Richard Osborne (1989). “Conversations with Karajan”

  37 Copy quote

• No music is vulgar, unless it is played in a way that makes it so.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Way, Music Is, Vulgar

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• 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.

  Herbert von Karajan

  Steps, Steps Forward, Asks

  "The Book of Musical Anecdotes". Book by Norman Lebrecht, December 1985.

  18 Copy quote

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