Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Mozart's best works are perfect as written; any change reduces their quality.
In plain terms
You cannot change his great music without making it worse.
What can you take from it?
True artistic perfection resists revision.

Where it applies

  • discussing adaptation of classics
  • evaluating original works
  • teaching composition

Putting it to work

  • preserve original scores
  • debate adaptations
  • study editing choices

Questions to consider

  • When should art remain untouched?
  • Is perfection attainable in art?

Another view

Art often benefits from reinterpretation across eras.

More from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  1. Designing an opera by Mozart is like doing something for God - it's a labor of love. ~ Maurice Sendak

    Permalink to quote #82
  2. What was evident was that Mozart was simply written down music already finished in his head. And music, finished as no music is ever finished. Displace one not…

    Permalink to quote #84
  3. Does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them? ~ Robert Schumann

    Permalink to quote #81

Related quotes

  1. Listening to Mozart, we cannot think of any possible improvement.

    Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart quote #34
  2. Mozart touched no problem without solving it to perfection. ~ Donald Francis Tovey

    Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart quote #89
  3. For the longest time, I didn't know the name of anyone in Led Zeppelin. I didn't care about what they looked like or ate. I wanted to listen, not read about th…

    John DolmayanJohn Dolmayan quote #1