Quotes by Composer | Beyond Motive 15/27

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Quotes by Composer

"It is conceivable that what is unified form to the author or composer may of necessity be formless to his audience."

"It is conceivable that what is unified form to the author or composer may of necessity be formless to his audience."

Charles Ives, American Composer

26

"And you prate of the wealth of nations, as if it were bought and sold, The wealth of nations is men, not silk and cotton and gold."

"And you prate of the wealth of nations, as if it were bought and sold, The wealth of nations is men, not silk and cotton and gold."

Richard Hovey, American Composer

Men, Wealth, Gold, Nations

26

"I mean I don't really think about it. You know, do you know what I often say to myself? I think you're very lucky in life if you know what you want to do."

"I mean I don't really think about it. You know, do you know what I often say to myself? I think you're very lucky in life if you know what you want to do."

Andrew Lloyd Webber, British Composer

26

"I see myself and many artists like me as the torchbearers through these dark ages."

"I see myself and many artists like me as the torchbearers through these dark ages."

John Zorn, American Composer

Artist, Artists

26

"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory."

"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory."

Thomas Beecham, English Composer

Music, Difficulty, Memory

26

"My mother's background was Scottish. She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland."

"My mother's background was Scottish. She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland."

Alan Hovhaness, American Composer

Family, Mother, Old, Scotland

26

"With the piano I'm completely in control of the gestural situation-not that I'm going to play the piece myself, but I know what's difficult, what's impossible."

"With the piano I'm completely in control of the gestural situation-not that I'm going to play the piece myself, but I know what's difficult, what's impossible."

Luc Ferrari, French Composer

26

"But in the end, music is ultimately an aural art, pure and simple."

"But in the end, music is ultimately an aural art, pure and simple."

Leo Ornstein, American Composer

Music, Art, End

26

"I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear."

"I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear."

Giuseppe Verdi, Italian Composer

Art, Heart, Emotion, Eyes

26

"What was once underground is now coming to the surface."

"What was once underground is now coming to the surface."

Gavin Bryars, English Composer

26

"The further the music develops, the more complex the apparatus used by the composer to express his thoughts becomes."

"The further the music develops, the more complex the apparatus used by the composer to express his thoughts becomes."

Gustav Mahler, Austrian Composer

Music, Thoughts

26

"However, very recently I have come to an understanding that complex music is not necessarily pleasant."

"However, very recently I have come to an understanding that complex music is not necessarily pleasant."

Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese Composer

Music, Understanding

26

"Yes, influences are enriching, and they can be found in every work of art, even the most original."

"Yes, influences are enriching, and they can be found in every work of art, even the most original."

Lukas Foss, German Composer

26

"I always think it's important to choose your initial theme very carefully because you're going to be married to it for a long time. You might have to generate an hour's worth of music from a very short, little piece of theme."

"I always think it's important to choose your initial theme very carefully because you're going to be married to it for a long time. You might have to generate an hour's worth of music from a very short, little piece of theme."

Anne Dudley, English Composer

Music, Time, Worth

26

"I don't want to write any more for the old Man-power instruments and am handicapped by the lack of adequate electrical instruments for which I now conceive my music."

"I don't want to write any more for the old Man-power instruments and am handicapped by the lack of adequate electrical instruments for which I now conceive my music."

Edgard Varese, American Composer

Music, Man, Now, Old

26

"Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today."

"Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today."

George Crumb, American Composer

Composer, Composers, Crisis, Today, Years

26

"I am certain that most composers today would consider today's music to be rich, not to say confusing, in its enormous diversity of styles, technical procedures, and systems of esthetics."

"I am certain that most composers today would consider today's music to be rich, not to say confusing, in its enormous diversity of styles, technical procedures, and systems of esthetics."

George Crumb, American Composer

Music, Composers, Diversity, Today

26

"I think that music has an endless life."

"I think that music has an endless life."

Anne Dudley, English Composer

26

"When I'm old I shall give up writing the big stuff and shall wander round the park thinking of songs."

"When I'm old I shall give up writing the big stuff and shall wander round the park thinking of songs."

George Lloyd, English Composer

Old, Songs, Thinking, Writing

25

"It's rather like attending a university seminar where you are talking to a few gifted specialists who deliver a paper to an audience of their peers. That's one way of making music."

"It's rather like attending a university seminar where you are talking to a few gifted specialists who deliver a paper to an audience of their peers. That's one way of making music."

Gavin Bryars, English Composer

Music, Talking, University

25

"What love is to man, music is to the arts and to mankind."

"What love is to man, music is to the arts and to mankind."

Carl Maria von Weber, German Composer

Love, Music, Man, Mankind

25

"There are a lot of wonderful things created in our culture that have been ignored that can speak to them."

"There are a lot of wonderful things created in our culture that have been ignored that can speak to them."

David Amram, American Composer

25

"To the person that deals in visualizations, I suppose there is something rather exciting about a whole set of people - they all going symmetrically, up or down, in a military sort of precision."

"To the person that deals in visualizations, I suppose there is something rather exciting about a whole set of people - they all going symmetrically, up or down, in a military sort of precision."

Leo Ornstein, American Composer

People, Deals, Military

25

"There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note."

"There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note."

Gustav Mahler, Austrian Composer

Difference, World

25

"And it sort of jogged a memory of something that I read at school and I read it, and I thought God this is it. So you never can tell. I could find something this afternoon."

"And it sort of jogged a memory of something that I read at school and I read it, and I thought God this is it. So you never can tell. I could find something this afternoon."

Andrew Lloyd Webber, British Composer

God, Thought, Memory, School

25

"Composers today get a TV script on Friday and have to record on Tuesday. It's just dreadful to impose on gifted talent and expect decent music under these conditions."

"Composers today get a TV script on Friday and have to record on Tuesday. It's just dreadful to impose on gifted talent and expect decent music under these conditions."

Alex North, American Composer

Music, Talent, Composers, Today

25

"The one book necessary to be understood by a divine, is the Bible; any others are to be read, chiefly, in order to understand that."

"The one book necessary to be understood by a divine, is the Bible; any others are to be read, chiefly, in order to understand that."

Francis Lockier, American Composer

25

"Well, American composers are the best composers. At this time in the world, we are where the energy is. We are the most diverse, the most iconoclastic, the most maverick, and the most skillful."

"Well, American composers are the best composers. At this time in the world, we are where the energy is. We are the most diverse, the most iconoclastic, the most maverick, and the most skillful."

David Del Tredici, American Composer

Time, Composers, Energy

25

"The nearest figure to myself would be Shakespeare."

"The nearest figure to myself would be Shakespeare."

Michael Tippett, English Composer

25

"Talking about the all night concerts, I did some of the first all night concerts back in the 60's with this little harmonium, and I also had saxophone taped delays."

"Talking about the all night concerts, I did some of the first all night concerts back in the 60's with this little harmonium, and I also had saxophone taped delays."

Terry Riley, American Composer

First, Night, Talking

25

"There is nothing like practice."

"There is nothing like practice."

Alan Hovhaness, American Composer

Nothing, Practice

25

"I don't know if I'm striving for anything that I can put into words."

"I don't know if I'm striving for anything that I can put into words."

Fred Frith, English Composer

25

"I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood."

"I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment... rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood."

Franz Liszt, Hungarian Composer

Faith, Work, Heart, Church

25

"Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character."

"Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character."

Oscar Levant, American Composer

25

"I was part of it, and I am still part of it today in terms of what it means to a whole new generation of people who are interested in the enduring energy, achievements, spirit and creativity that exemplified our era."

"I was part of it, and I am still part of it today in terms of what it means to a whole new generation of people who are interested in the enduring energy, achievements, spirit and creativity that exemplified our era."

David Amram, American Composer

People, Creativity, Energy, Spirit

25

"We are involved in a life that passes understanding and our highest business is our daily life."

"We are involved in a life that passes understanding and our highest business is our daily life."

John Cage, American Composer

Business, Life, Understanding

25

"It is the element I miss in electronic music - no performance, no loving immersion. Maybe that is why I was never particularly drawn to electronic music."

"It is the element I miss in electronic music - no performance, no loving immersion. Maybe that is why I was never particularly drawn to electronic music."

Lukas Foss, German Composer

Music, Performance

25

"Now, what we are not talking about, what you're really coming to, is what compromises one makes so that the listener understands somewhat of what you're doing, what you're trying to express."

"Now, what we are not talking about, what you're really coming to, is what compromises one makes so that the listener understands somewhat of what you're doing, what you're trying to express."

Leo Ornstein, American Composer

Now, Talking, Trying

25

"I think back at the time, if it had been 1988, I would have thought Michael and Sarah probably would have been cast but I don't think, I think it's much better that the girl is younger and if Sarah would have been 26 or 27 then."

"I think back at the time, if it had been 1988, I would have thought Michael and Sarah probably would have been cast but I don't think, I think it's much better that the girl is younger and if Sarah would have been 26 or 27 then."

Andrew Lloyd Webber, British Composer

25

"I'm not talking ideas, or even presentation. It's like in politics: You have to sell something to become an electric player - like your skin or your heart."

"I'm not talking ideas, or even presentation. It's like in politics: You have to sell something to become an electric player - like your skin or your heart."

Keith Jarrett, American Composer

Heart, Ideas, Skin, Talking

25

"I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being."

"I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being."

Michael Tippett, English Composer

Art, Music, Truth, Heart

25

"I started playing piano with a little band in high school. I was terrible. I thought I had absolutely no talent. I couldn't keep time. I only got into McGill, which was a lousy music school, because they were taking American music students."

"I started playing piano with a little band in high school. I was terrible. I thought I had absolutely no talent. I couldn't keep time. I only got into McGill, which was a lousy music school, because they were taking American music students."

Burt Bacharach, American Composer

Music, Time, Talent, Thought

25

"Music can also be a sensual pleasure, like eating food or sex. But its highest vibration for me is that point of taking us to a real understanding of something in our nature which we can very rarely get at. It is a spiritual state of oneness."

"Music can also be a sensual pleasure, like eating food or sex. But its highest vibration for me is that point of taking us to a real understanding of something in our nature which we can very rarely get at. It is a spiritual state of oneness."

Terry Riley, American Composer

Food, Music, Nature, Sex

25

"One of the things that happens in the business is that success is a very strange thing in that if you are involved in something very successful the next person wants you to repeat it."

"One of the things that happens in the business is that success is a very strange thing in that if you are involved in something very successful the next person wants you to repeat it."

Elmer Bernstein, American Composer

Business, Success, Successful

25

$"Yes, fractals are what I want to find in my music."$

"Yes, fractals are what I want to find in my music."

Gyorgy Ligeti, Hungarian Composer

25

"I always want to write erotic music... Not only about the love between men and women, but in a much more universal sense - about the sensuality of the mechanism of the universe... about life."

"I always want to write erotic music... Not only about the love between men and women, but in a much more universal sense - about the sensuality of the mechanism of the universe... about life."

Toru Takemitsu, Japanese Composer

Life, Love, Men, Music

25

"I'll live a lush life in some small dive."

"I'll live a lush life in some small dive."

Billy Strayhorn, American Composer

25

"The idea of the peace movement and of people who spent their entire lives trying to have a more egalitarian, just society, suddenly became swamped by the record industry, by the new rock and roll culture, and by the idea of not trusting anyone over thirty."

"The idea of the peace movement and of people who spent their entire lives trying to have a more egalitarian, just society, suddenly became swamped by the record industry, by the new rock and roll culture, and by the idea of not trusting anyone over thirty."

David Amram, American Composer

Peace, Society, People, Idea

25

"Public notice does not necessarily accord with internal fulfilment."

"Public notice does not necessarily accord with internal fulfilment."

Michael Tippett, English Composer

25

"As rich as Cincinnati was in live music, New York was even more."

"As rich as Cincinnati was in live music, New York was even more."

Gunther Schuller, American Composer

25

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