I Wish To Lead A Life Free

I Wish To Lead A Life Free From Care, And I See That I Shall Be Unhappy If I Cannot Always Work At My Art.

I Cannot Give A Single Concert At Which I Do Not Play One Piece After The Other In An Agony Of Terror Because My Memory Threatens To Fail Me. This Fear Torments Me For Days Beforehand.

I Will Yield To Popular Demands Only Insofar As They Do Not Betray My Own Convictions.

Composing Gives Me Great Pleasure... There Is Nothing That Surpasses The Joy Of Creation, If Only Because Through It One Wins Hours Of Self-forgetfulness, When One Lives In A World Of Sound.

Treasures Are No Longer To Be Got By Instrumental Art.