Talk:Ludwig van Beethoven

To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable!

it goes around online, but i cannot find any source for this. maybe someone who speaks german can find the original?

--Attila.lendvai (talk) 11:11, 17 April 2014 (UTC) Falsche Noten zu spielen, ist unbedeutend. Ohne Leidenschaft zu spielen, ist unentschuldbar.

My guess is that it's made up. The earliest match I can find is from a 1997 magazine for school bands in the US: "Wrong notes are of little consequence, but to play without passion is inexcusable". Grover cleveland (talk) 15:44, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

Not a direct quote, but Beethoven did say something along those lines ... according to this reddit discussion. Ferdinand Ries wrote about his experiences taking lessons from Beethoven. Look for (ctrl+F) 'fehlerhaftem Klavierspiel' (faulty piano performance) on this page and you'll see the exact excerpt in both English and German. --IIBewegung (talk) 05:22, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

It was in a piano tutoring scene from the 1994 Movie "Immortal Beloved".

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

I've seen this quoted in a few places, but no idea about a source. NoldorinElf (talk)

This quote was attributed to Beethoven by Bettina von Arnim in a letter to Goethe, May 28, 1810. See Goethe's Correspondence with a Child (1837) — I've added it to the main page. ~ DanielTom (talk) 22:12, 7 October 2014 (UTC)

What you are, you are by accident of birth...

"What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven."

Is this genuine?

2A02:C7F:C617:6600:BCA1:B200:1633:8C01 16:05, 5 August 2018 (UTC)