My mind and fingers have worked like the damned. Homer, the Bible, Plato, Locke, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Beethoven, Bach, Hummel, Mozart, Weber are all around me. I study them. I devour them with fury.
Franz LisztRead
Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The life of an artist is filled with deep emotions and struggles.
Franz Liszt's quote reflects the profound challenges and emotional turbulence that often accompany the creative journey of an artist. It suggests that while artistry can lead to great beauty and achievements, it is also intertwined with sorrow and hardship, emphasizing the bittersweet nature of artistic expression and the sacrifices made in pursuit of art.
Themes
ArtistSorrowDestinyCreativityStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the challenges of pursuing a career in the arts.
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For the virtuoso, musical works are in fact nothing but tragic and moving materializations of his emotions; he is called upon to make them speak, weep, sing and sigh, to recreate them in accordance with his own consciousness. In this way he, like the composer, is a creator, for he must have within himself those passions that he wishes to bring so intensely to life.
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I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other masterworks as well, stand in no further need of my services.
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Music is never stationary; successive forms and styles are only like so many resting-places - like tents pitched and taken down again on the road to the Ideal.
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