Nur dem nützt das Lob, der den Tadel zu schätzen versteht.

Billy Reed posted a photo:

Another Oxfam shop ‘find’ – a tiny, battered booklet on the life of Robert Schumann. I’ve no idea how old it is, except it retailed at 4d. I’m not a follower of Schumann’s works, but the extracts from his ‘Rules and Maxims for Young Musicians’ at the back of the booklet are interesting and largely true, if sometimes rather quaint:


3. Endeavour to play easy pieces well and beautifully, that is better than to play difficult pieces indifferently well.

4. When you play, never mind who listens to you.

9. Do not be elated by the applause of the multitude, that of artists is of greater value.

14. If you pass a church, and hear an organ, go in and listen. If allowed to sit on the organ bench, try your inexperienced fingers, and marvel at the supreme power of music.

18. Do not judge a composition from the first time of hearing; that which pleases you at the first moment is not always the best.

21. Without enthusiasm nothing great can be effected in art.