Famous quotes by Composers

Billy Strayhorn, Composer

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

Billy Strayhorn, Composer

"I think everything should happen at halfway to dawn. That's when all the heads of government should meet. I think everybody would fall in love"

Billy Strayhorn, Composer

"The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all"

Arvo Part, Composer

"Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God"

Felix Mendelssohn, Composer

"Blues is a natural fact, is something that a fellow lives. If you don't live it you don't have it. Young people have forgotten to cry the blues. Now they talk and get lawyers and things"

Big Bill Broonzy, Composer

"Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is"

Malcolm Arnold, Composer

"Let your mind alone, and see what happens"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"I don't go around regretting things that don't happen"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"You either are or you're not"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"In the end, it doesn't matter what you do"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"I think there are influences that you open the door to, and influences that come under the door"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"In art, there are only fast or slow developments. Essentially it is a matter of evolution, not revolution"

Bela Bartok, Composer

"All old music was modern once, and much more of the music of yesterday already sounds more old-fashioned than works which were written three centuries ago"

Peter Warlock, Composer

"I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener"

Arvo Part, Composer

"Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers - in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning"

Arvo Part, Composer

"Ever since I began to compose, I have remained true to my starting principle: not to write a page because no matter what public or what pretty girl wanted it to be thus or thus, but to write solely as I myself thought best, and as it gave me pleasure"

Felix Mendelssohn, Composer

"All good music, whatever its date, is ageless - as alive and significant today as it was when it was written"

Peter Warlock, Composer

"Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time, to figure out whether you like it or not"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"In Paris, you learn wit, in London you learn to crush your social rivals, and in Florence you learn poise"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"Autumn in New York, why does it seem so inviting?"

Vernon Duke, Composer

"I never learned to verbalize an abstract musical concept. No thank you. The whole point of being a serious musician is to avoid verbalization whenever you can"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"I don't have to worry. No matter what they do to it, it works"

Virgil Thomson, Composer

"My attitude to writing is like when you do wallpapering, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet. And then your friends say: It's terrific!"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"I'm not an architectural composer"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"I'm not a music lover in the sense that I look for something to have on. I've never had that attitude to music"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

"I don't think there is much American music"

Harrison Birtwistle, Composer

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