Source: The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard
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Famous Leonard Bernstein Quotes
“Bernstein has been disclosing musical secrets that have been well known for over 400 years.”
“Life without music is meaningless, music without life is academic.”
Source: Findings
Source: Findings
“...we can all shut-up and go back to our caves.”
Source: The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard
“Mozart's music is constantly escaping from its frame, because it cannot be contained in it.”
Source: The Infinite Variety of Music
“The 20th century has been a badly written drama, from the beginning.”
“To be a success as a Broadway composer, you must be Jewish or gay. I'm both.”
“Any asshole can write a tone-row. It takes a composer to write a tune.”
“I hate you, Richard Wagner . . . but I hate you on my knees.”
“Conducting is like making love to a hundred people at the same time.”
“I have two answers to everything and one answer to nothing.”
Source: The Infinite Variety of Music
“It is hard to think of another composer who so perfectly marries form and passion.”
Source: Findings
“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.”
“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.”
Source: The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard
“I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer.”
“Technique is communication: the two words are synonymous in conductors.”
“I'm no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is Yes.”
“I've been all over the world and I've never seen a statue of a critic.”
“The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial.”
“The most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra is second fiddle.”
“Wine snobbery, of course, is part showmanship, part sophistication, part knowledge, and part bluff”
Source: The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard
“Life without music is unthinkable.”
Source: Findings
Source: The Infinite Variety of Music