Thomas Beecham Quotes

Quotes about:

• Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands and all you can do is scratch it.

  Thomas Beecham

  Giving, Musical, Scratches

  To a cellist; attributed, no source found

  39 Copy quote

• It is quite untrue that British people don't appreciate music. They may not understand it but they absolutely love the noise it makes.

  Thomas Beecham

  Sarcastic, Sarcasm, People

  32 Copy quote

• The sound of a harpsichord - two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm.

  Thomas Beecham

  Skeletons, Two, Musical

  38 Copy quote

• "Have you heard any Stockhausen?" Beecham was asked. "No, but I believe I have stepped in some."

  Thomas Beecham

  Believe, Belief, Heard

  41 Copy quote

• There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.

  Thomas Beecham

  Funny, Music, Two

  In Harold Atkins and Archie Newman Beecham Stories (1978) p. 27

  34 Copy quote

• The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.

  Thomas Beecham

  Conscious, Release, Function

  Quoted in Harold Atkins and Archie Newman Beecham Stories (1978).

  61 Copy quote

• The trouble with women in an orchestra is that if they're attractive it will upset my players and if they're not it will upset me.

  Thomas Beecham

  Music, Player, Upset

  41 Copy quote

• I find brass bands have a melancholy sound. All right out of doors, of course - fifty miles away. Like bagpipes, they turn what had been a dream into a public nuisance.

  Thomas Beecham

  Dream, Doors, Brass Bands

  28 Copy quote

• We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be good enough to keep in touch now and again.

  Thomas Beecham

  Musical, Good Enough, Enough

  18 Copy quote

• A soprano in Massenet's Don Quixote complained that she had missed her entry in the aria, "because Mr. Challiapin always dies too soon." "Madam, you must be profoundly in error," said Sir Thomas, "No operatic star has yet died half soon enough for me."

  Thomas Beecham

  Stars, Errors, Soon Enough

  32 Copy quote

• Her singing reminds me of a cart coming downhill with the brake on.

  Thomas Beecham

  Musical, Singing, Brake

  29 Copy quote

• Composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle.

  Thomas Beecham

  Writing, Boys, Tunes

  48 Copy quote

• If I were a dictator I should make it compulsory for every member of the population between the ages of four and eighty to listen to Mozart for at least a quarter of an hour daily for the coming five years.

  Thomas Beecham

  Years, Age, Population

  29 Copy quote

• Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.

  Thomas Beecham

  Country, Thinking, Musical

  16 Copy quote

• Beethoven's last quartets were written by a deaf man and should only be listened to by a deaf man.

  Thomas Beecham

  Music, Men, Lasts

  25 Copy quote

• Music first and last should sound well, should allure and enchant the ear. Never mind the inner significance.

  Thomas Beecham

  Music, Mind, Sound

  12 Copy quote

• The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.

  Thomas Beecham

  Love, Funny, Music

  In New York Herald Tribune 9 Mar. 1961

  19 Copy quote

• They are quite hopeless - drooling, driveling, doleful, depressing, dropsical drips.

  Thomas Beecham

  Depressing, Hopeless, Doleful

  54 Copy quote

• Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away.

  Thomas Beecham

  Funny, Music, Brass Bands

  “Readers recommend: best brass songs” by Peter Kimpton, www.theguardian.com. June 26, 2014.

  14 Copy quote

• At a rehearsal I let the orchestra play as they like. At the concert I make them play as I like.

  Thomas Beecham

  Play, Orchestra, Rehearsal

  21 Copy quote

• There are no woman composers, never have been and possibly never will be.

  Thomas Beecham

  Women, Composer, Has Beens

  19 Copy quote

• I prefer Offenbach to Bach often.

  Thomas Beecham

  Music

  8 Copy quote

• If an opera cannot be played by an organ grinder, it's not going to achieve immortality.

  Thomas Beecham

  Opera, Immortality, Achieve

  21 Copy quote

• The sound of the harpsichord resembles that of a bird-cage played with toasting-forks.

  Thomas Beecham

  Bird, Sound, Cages

  22 Copy quote

• Elgar's first symphony is the musical equivalent of St Pancras Railway Station.

  Thomas Beecham

  Music, Symphony, Firsts

  16 Copy quote

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