Best Toscanini Quotes & Sayings

This is my Italy, she thought. The power and beauty of the antiquities, the detailed frescos, the imposing statuaries carved of milk white granite, Don Martinelli's hammered gold chalice, the glorious tones of the music, the Italy of Puccini and Verdi, Caruso and Toscanini, not the Italy of the shattered spirits in Hoboken and the drunken, desperate Anna Buffa. This was the Italy that fed her soul, where hope was restored and broken hearts were mended in the hands of great artists. — Adriana Trigiani

Toscanini once recorded a piece sixty five times. You know what he said when he finished? "It could be better." Think about it. — Terrence Malick

From Toscanini I learnt the essential and desperate seriousness of making music. — Georg Solti

Did anyone tell Toscanini, or Bach, that he had to choose between music and family, between art and a normal life? — Elisabeth Mann Borgese

I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since. — Arturo Toscanini

After conducting a concert in a small town, I once received the following note from a farmer who had attended the performance: "Dear Sir, I wish to inform you that the man who played the long thing you pull in and out only did so during the brief periods you were looking at him." — Arturo Toscanini

I had a number of very strong personalities in my family. My father was a concert flutist, the solo flute for Toscanini. — Francis Ford Coppola

God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way. — Arturo Toscanini

To Strauss the composer I take off my hat; to Strauss the man I put it back on again. — Arturo Toscanini

During a rehearsal of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony the members of the orchestra were so overwhelmingly moved by the conducting of Arturo Toscanini that they rose as one man and applauded him. When the spontaneous cheering has subsided, Toscanini turned to his men, tears glistening in his eyes. "Please ... please! Don't do this! You see, gentlemen, it isn't me you should applaud. It's Beethoven!" — James Keller

Liberty, in my opinion, is the only orthodoxy within the limits of which art may express itself and flourish freely-liberty that is the best of all things in the life of man, if it is all one with wisdom and virtue. — Arturo Toscanini

I hate you all because you destroy my dreams! — Arturo Toscanini

When I was young, I kissed my first woman and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. Believe me, never since have I wasted any more time on tobacco. — Arturo Toscanini

If you want to please the critics, don't play too loud, too soft, too fast, too slow. — Arturo Toscanini

Can't you read? The score demands 'con amore', and what are you doing? You are playing it like married men! — Arturo Toscanini

To some it is Napoleon, to some it is a philosophical struggle, to me it is allegro con brio. — Arturo Toscanini

After I die, I shall return to earth as a gatekeeper of a bordello and I won't let any of you enter. — Arturo Toscanini