Quotes by Famous Dead Composers...

[ggalen]

Oct 18, 2009, 7:19am, mazz wrote:Talking about music is like dancing about architectureCan someone explain to me exactly what that means? We can't talk about music?Do we architect about architecture, then??

[mazz]

Glenn,I think what that statement is trying to say is: Music cannot be put into words anymore than architecture can be put into dance.Sure, we can talk about music all day long, but what it all boils down to is each of us experiences it in our own way and any words used to describe that experience fall short of the actual experience, which is beyond words. I could choreograph my interpretation of some great building somewhere, and all it would be is my abstraction of my feelings about that building, it probably won't affect you the same way it affects me.So, as long as we realize our musical discussions are abstractions of the actual experience, and, as often happens here, our personal opinions of a certain musical experience, we can talk all day long. It just won't be nearly as meaningful or direct as just sitting down and listening to the actual music.My interpretation.Mazz

[Mark Kaufman]

We'd probably have much better music critics if they were required to review songs by singing about them. But with that premise, the only way you could critique a new building would be by building another one.Looks to me like Martin Mull is the best candidate for that architecture quote...all roads seem to lead his way.

[mojobone]

Oct 18, 2009, 8:09am, ggalen wrote:Oct 18, 2009, 1:07am, eokamura wrote:"Good composers borrow. Great composers steal." (Or something to that effect.) -BeethovenI think that was Igor Stravinsky, not Beethoven. And he took it from T.S Eliot, who said it about poets.I heard it as a Tchaikovsky quote. As to dancing about architecture, I've also seen that one attributed to Elvis Costello. http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2 ... ncovered/I love the quote about the bitchin' shirt; it speaks volumes, to me. I quit playing with college students years ago, because while some of 'em can really jam, none of 'em seem to know how to dress. It's way more important than you might think, both because you never get a second chance at a first impression, and because up to 25% of any given audience is tone deaf and will undoubtedly decide whether you're talented based on whether you look like you know what you're doing.

[mazz]

Just found a few more:“At least I have the modesty to admit that lack of modesty is one of my failings.” – Hector Berlioz“If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.” – Johannes Brahms“The old idea of a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it is nonsense. Nighttime is for sleeping.” – Benjamin Britten“Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind.” – Gioachino Rossini“One can’t judge Wagner’s opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don’t intend to hear it a second time.” – Gioachino Rossini“I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.” – Richard Strauss“Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.” – Igor Stravinsky

[ggalen]

Thanks, Mazz.That's a great explanation.

[jonathanm]

"The face of a child can say so much...especially the mouth part of that face." -- Jack HandyOK, he's not dead and he's not a composer. My bad.

[crystallions]

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.”Elvis Presley"Only the only thing worse than watchin' a bad movie is bein' in one."Elvis Preslsey

[brindabella]

No a quote, but an anecdote about Vladimir de Pachman, a famous pianist. He stopped in the middle of a piece at a Recital and addressed a woman on first row:"Dear Lady, I am playing a 3/4 waltz and you are fanning yourself at 2/4. Either use your fan on time with me, or else I'll play a Polka then."

[elser]

Oct 21, 2009, 1:31pm, brindabella wrote:No a quote, but an anecdote about Vladimir de Pachman, a famous pianist. He stopped in the middle of a piece at a Recital and addressed a woman on first row:"Dear Lady, I am playing a 3/4 waltz and you are fanning yourself at 2/4. Either use your fan on time with me, or else I'll play a Polka then."Good one!From Victor Borge: “The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer.”