Composer Quotes - Page 8

• Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

  John Philip Sousa

  Believe, Inspiration, Conscious

  John Philip Sousa (2010). “Six marches”, p.46, A-R Editions, Inc.

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• Music acts on the whole of the organism like a magic force which suppresses the understanding and irresistibly takes possession of the entire being. To insist on analysing this force is to destroy its very essence.

  Emile Jaques-Dalcroze

  Music, Art, Essence

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• I knew I couldn't sing over them, so I decided to sing under them. The more noise they made the more softly I sang. When they discovered they couldn't hear me, they began to look at me. Then they began to listen. As I sang, I kept thinking, 'softly with feeling.' The noise dropped to a hum; the hum gave way to silence. I had learned how to reach and hold my audience -- softly, with feeling.

  Peggy Lee

  Learning, Thinking, Silence

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• We should make the poor uncomfortable and kick them out of poverty.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Society, Poverty, Politician

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• Music, being identical with heaven, isn't a thing of momentary thrills, or even hourly ones. It's a condition of eternity.

  Gustav Holst

  Music, Heaven, Thrill

  Gustav Holst, Michael Short, William Gillies Whittaker (1974). “Gustav Holst, letters to W. G. Whittaker”, University of Glasgow French and German Publications

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• Even in winter it shall be green in my heart.

  Frederic Chopin

  Love, Romantic, Spring

  Frederic Chopin (2013). “Chopin's Letters”, p.106, Courier Corporation

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• The terror of performing never goes away. Instead, you get very, very comfortable being terrified.

  Eric Whitacre

  Feelings, Going Away, Performing

  Twitter post from May 20, 2016

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• It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.

  Frederic Chopin

  Life, Music, Philosophy

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• 

  We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns.

  Tom Waits

  Happiness, Money, Confused

  "Tom Waits Interviews Tom Waits". www.npr.org. May 20, 2008.

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• A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.

  Hugh Downs

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

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• Tim Price is one of the real ones !
  A good friend and a great player !

  Phil Woods

  Real, Good Friend, Player

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• I'm a revolutionary, money means nothing to me.

  Frederic Chopin

  Life, Music, Money

  "Chopin". Book by Arthur Hedley,, 1947.

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• Composers dialogue - and obsessively, bitterly argue - with other composers, often over the span of several centuries.

  Brian Ferneyhough

  Arguing, Century, Dialogue

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• A hundred years ago, of course, the question that the German Composers' Co-operative asked itself sounded a lot more fundamental: How do you create a fair share for those who ensure that works can actually be performed at all?

  Johannes Rau

  Years, Fundamentals, Share

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• I feel that I belong to the 19th century. Some composers' music is very topical. It almost says, 'This is about what I read in newspapers yesterday.' Not mine.

  Gordon Getty

  Yesterday, Century, Newspapers

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• Today each composer is not only involved in aesthetics, but he's actually trying to create his own language.

  Leo Ornstein

  Trying, Today, Language

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• The composers could no longer direct all performances in person, and so the responsibility of interpreting their works in the spirit in which they had been conceived was placed upon conductors.

  Anton Seidl

  Responsibility, Spirit, Performances

  Anton Seidl (2014). “On Conducting”, p.100, Parrot Press

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• Americans can pretty much sing anything, whereas foreign singers are often limited in style, language, even composer.

  Marilyn Horne

  Style, Singers, Language

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• I've got a collection of songs that I've had, I keep adding to and they're all great American composers. I wanted to showcase American composers and I've done that on a lot of my records and played things by American composers that I really respect.

  Charlie Haden

  Song, Done, Records

  "Charlie Haden Remembers Tomorrow". Interview With Mike Brannon, www.allaboutjazz.com. March 7, 2003.

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• What inspires me is not so much the music as the opportunity to interact with composers. I think that has driven everything I've done.

  Robert Moog

  Opportunity, Thinking, Inspire

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• It doesn't necessarily mean at all that the composer plays his own works best.

  Leo Ornstein

  Mean, Play

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• Do you know that my very first experience as a composer was a 'Concerto for Accordion?

  Alfred Schnittke

  Firsts, Accordions, Knows

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• Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds.

  John Philip Sousa

  People, Sound

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• To me, all writing is like music. And especially dialogue. I studied music in college; that is what I wanted to be, a composer. Acting got me sidetracked.

  Dirk Benedict

  Writing, College, Acting

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• Intelligent analysis of the composer's intention and strict adherence to it automatically ensures sincerity.

  Kate Smith

  Intelligent, Analysis, Adherence

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