Quotessence
Home / Authors / Morton Feldman Books
Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman Books

Composer

Essays

A source page for quotes linked to Morton Feldman.

0 quotes

Related Quotes

“Kierkegaard says that all speculative philosophy cannot equal in complexity the dialectic of a woman who has been deceived. He goes on to explain that such a woman cannot find an object for her pain, because love cannot grasp the thought that it has been deceived. In art, it is the system itself that holds out the false promise, that deceives. We might almost say that art is in pain, because it is unable to believe this deception is taking place. The artist feels his work goes badly because he is not reaching technical perfection. Actually, he is looking into the eyes of a deceiver, who constantly throws him back into the dilemma — the paradox. Is it lying to me or not, he asks himself. He ends by believing the lie, in the face of all evidence against it, because he needs this lie to exist in his art.”

Art
Book:Give My Regards to Eighth Street: Collected Writings
Create image

“It appears to me that the subject of music, from Machaut to Boulez, has always been its construction. Melodies of 12-tone rows just don't happen. They must be constructed....To demonstrate any formal idea in music, whether structure or stricture, is a matter of construction, in which the methodology is the controlling metaphor of the composition...Only by 'unfixing' the elements traditionally used to construct a piece of music could the sounds exist in themselves--not as symbols, or memories which were memories of other music to begin with.”

IdeasMatterHappensUsedSoundMemoriesMusicPiecesSubjectsElementsStructureMetaphorSymbolsToneMelodyConstructionCompositionFormalConstructsMethodology
Author:Morton Feldman
Create image

“Art in relation to life is nothing more than a glove turned inside out. It seems to have the same shapes and contours, but it can never be used for the same purpose. Art teaches nothing about life, just as life teaches us nothing about art.”

ArtSeemsLife IsUsedPurposeTeachShapesRelationGlovesLife Teaches
Book:Give My Regards to Eighth Street: Collected Writings of Morton Feldman
Create image

“I have a very dear friend, a great painter, called me up very upset, the work wasn’t going well… He asked me to come to his studio -- which I did -- I looked around at the work, dozens of sketches, drawings, large pictures, and I was very close to his work, intensely involved with his work, and he asked me, ‘What’s wrong?’ And I said, ‘Simple – it’s a loss of nerve.”

WellsSaidLossSimpleInvolvedDearStudiosDrawingPainterUpsetNervesDozenDear Friend
Book:Morton Feldman Says: Selected Interviews and Lectures 1964-1987
Create image

“To me, I took a militant attitude towards sounds. I wanted sounds to be a metaphor, that they could be as free as a human being might be free. That was my idea about sound. It still is, that they should breathe ... not to be used for the vested interest of an idea. I feel that music should have no vested interests, that you shouldn't know how it's made, that you shouldn't know if there's a system, that you shouldn't know anything about it ... except that it's some kind of life force that to some degree really changes your life ... if you're into it.”

IfsKnowsFeelsShouldHumansKindMadeStillsIdeasMightWantedUsedForceSoundInterestHuman BeingsAttitudeKnow HowDegreesShould HaveMetaphorBreatheChanging Your LifeMilitantVested Interests
Author:Morton Feldman
Create image