"For hundreds of years people have talked about artists having inspiration, but often, some persons would say, write us a symphony or write us a song, on commission. The artists would come up with a masterpiece without waiting to have their muse inspire them"
About this Quote
Glazer is quietly puncturing the romantic myth that art arrives on a beam of divine lightning. He doesn’t deny inspiration; he demotes it. The real flex, in his framing, is the artist who can be handed a deadline, a brief, maybe even an annoying patron, and still produce something that outlives the transaction. It’s a musician’s way of saying: professionalism is not the enemy of beauty.
The quote works because it sets up a familiar story - the “muse” as a fickle gatekeeper - then slips in a more democratic, workmanlike counter-history: for centuries, composers and songwriters were effectively contractors. “On commission” is doing heavy lifting here. It evokes Bach writing for the church calendar, Mozart hustling for aristocratic favor, film composers turning notes into payroll. Glazer’s point isn’t that commerce guarantees greatness; it’s that the conditions of making art have almost always been messy, external, and non-mystical.
There’s subtext, too, in the phrasing “some persons would say.” It reads like a mild eye-roll at the audience member who treats the artist as a jukebox with a soul. Glazer, who lived through the folk revival and the era of mass media, is also defending craft in a culture obsessed with authenticity. He’s arguing that discipline can be its own kind of inspiration - and that waiting to “feel it” is often just a socially acceptable way to avoid the work.
The quote works because it sets up a familiar story - the “muse” as a fickle gatekeeper - then slips in a more democratic, workmanlike counter-history: for centuries, composers and songwriters were effectively contractors. “On commission” is doing heavy lifting here. It evokes Bach writing for the church calendar, Mozart hustling for aristocratic favor, film composers turning notes into payroll. Glazer’s point isn’t that commerce guarantees greatness; it’s that the conditions of making art have almost always been messy, external, and non-mystical.
There’s subtext, too, in the phrasing “some persons would say.” It reads like a mild eye-roll at the audience member who treats the artist as a jukebox with a soul. Glazer, who lived through the folk revival and the era of mass media, is also defending craft in a culture obsessed with authenticity. He’s arguing that discipline can be its own kind of inspiration - and that waiting to “feel it” is often just a socially acceptable way to avoid the work.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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