Funny quotes from classical music composer

“Brahms' Variations are better than mine, but mine were written before his.” 
By Franz Liszt


“That will make the ladies scream.” 
By Joseph Haydn talked about his surprise symphony no94.



“Give me a laundry-list and I'll set it to music.” 
By Gioachino Rossini

"I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer." 
By Richard Strauss

"There is one god -- Bach -- and Mendelssohn is his prophet" 
By Hector Berlioz

"Though I had some instruction from Haydn, I never learned anything from him." 
By Ludwig van Beethoven, quoted in Marion M Scott, Beethoven, 1934

 
"I cannot conceive of music that expresses absolutely nothing." 
By Bela Bartok

"What a masterpiece, but what despair! It's enough to make you long for death." 
By Georges Bizet (speaking of Schumann's Manfred); quoted in Dean, Bizet (1975)