Famous quotes by Composers

"It breaks even. We lose ten, twenty grand every year. But then the people who are working say, Look, I'll kick this back in, I don't need to take this profit share. It's very cooperative"

John Zorn, Composer

"I'm getting ready to write a piece now, and it's been six months thinking about it, changing the instrumentation, changing the name, doing more reading"

John Zorn, Composer

"Eye was a great discovery. He is one of the great vocalists of all time"

John Zorn, Composer

"I'm one of those people who is actually inspired by a deadline. I might not sleep for many days on end, it may not be good for my health, but it definitely helps"

Carter Burwell, Composer

"Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence"

Johannes Sebastian Bach, Composer

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul"

Johannes Sebastian Bach, Composer

"If I decide to be an idiot, then I'll be an idiot on my own accord"

Johannes Sebastian Bach, Composer

"A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance"

Gian Carlo Menotti, Composer

"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself"

Johannes Sebastian Bach, Composer

"In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me"

Carter Burwell, Composer

"It is strange how one feels drawn forward without knowing at first where one is going"

Gustav Mahler, Composer

"A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything"

Gustav Mahler, Composer

"Destiny smiles upon me, but without making me the least bit happier"

Gustav Mahler, Composer

"If I weren't the way I am, I shouldn't write my symphonies"

Gustav Mahler, Composer

"The laws of morals and the laws of music are the same"

Zoltan Kodaly, Composer

"Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song"

Zoltan Kodaly, Composer

"Our musical alphabet is poor and illogical"

Edgard Varese, Composer

"Take a sound from whatever source, a note on a violin, a scream, a moan, a creaking door, and there is always this symmetry between the sound basis, which is complex and has numerous characteristics which emerge through a process of comparison within our perception"

Pierre Schaeffer, Composer

"To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing, is to build upon sand"

Zoltan Kodaly, Composer

"Let us take our children seriously! Everything else follows from this... Only the best is good enough for a child"

Zoltan Kodaly, Composer

"In contrast, traditional classical music starts from an abstract musical schema. This is then notated and only expressed in concrete sound as a last stage, when it is performed"

Pierre Schaeffer, Composer

"Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind"

Johannes Brahms, Composer

"Never play anything that don't sound right. You might not make any money, but at least you won't get hostile with yourself!"

Hoagy Carmichael, Composer

"A symphony is no joke"

Johannes Brahms, Composer

"Truth is a great flirt"

Franz Liszt, Composer

"The public is always good"

Franz Liszt, Composer

"I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original"

Joseph Haydn, Composer

"A man endures misfortune without complaint"

Franz Schubert, Composer

"For Debussy, the musician and the man, I have had profound admiration, but by nature I'm different from him. I think I have always personally followed a direction opposed to that of the symbolism of Debussy"

Maurice Ravel, Composer

"At least I have the modesty to admit that lack of modesty is one of my failings"

Hector Berlioz, Composer

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