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Quote by Elliott Carter

“My entire life has really revolved around music that was written about the time that I was born, 1908, to just before the First World War and shortly after it. This music I've always known, and it is that music that's most important to me.”

Quote by Elliott Carter

Author

Elliott Carter was a prominent American composer recognized for his avant-garde and serialist compositions. His career spanned seven decades, and he was one of the longest-lived composers, passing away at the age of 103. Carter's works are noted for their complex rhythms, intricate structures, and a fusion of modernist and tonal elements. more

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“Silences between movements are employed only in order to bring the opposing duo to the fore.”

Order Silence Movement Silence Is Employed Opposing Duos

Author:Elliott Carter

“Talking about a materialistic thing, I get about 13 times more royalties from Europe than I do from America.”

America Talking Europe Royalty Materialistic Materialistic Things

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“Yes, I get a report from BMI about the frequency of performances, and it is very surprising. They played one of my most advanced pieces, and one of my most unusual ones on the radio.”

Pieces Performances Radio Reports Unusual Surprising Frequency

Author:Elliott Carter

“Almost every one of my various zero numbered birthdays has had a big concert in London and often in Paris.”

Bigs Various London Paris Zero Concerts

Author:Elliott Carter

“That was one of the big problems when I was at Harvard studying music. We had to write choral pieces in the style of Brahms or Mendelssohn, which was distressing because in the end you realized how good Brahms is, and how bad you are.”

Writing Ends Problem Bigs Study Pieces Style Harvard Big Problems Distressing Brahms Mendelssohn Studying Music

Author:Elliott Carter

“Aaron Copland was a man that had a very specific point of view about what music should be which was that, he felt that new music should have the composer should show a personality in his music.”

Men Should Shows Felt Views Personality Should Have Point Of View Composer New Music

Author:Elliott Carter

“Right at the end of the war I wrote a piano sonata, which was written at a time when Sam Barber used to come down here and we used to have lunch together in a very nice old hotel that's now not there.”

War Ends Together Used Nice Written Piano Hotel Lunch Very Nice Barbers Sonatas

Author:Elliott Carter

“The Third Quartet I made the instruments in pairs - Two different pairs - Violin and viola, and violin and cello. They played very different things from each other all through the whole piece.”

Made Two Different Whole Pieces Thirds Instruments Different Things Pairs Violin Quartets Viola String Quartets

Author:Elliott Carter

“The Quartets have been a major part of my work.”

Has Beens Majors Quartets

Author:Elliott Carter

“In our house we repeated the pattern of thousands of other homes. There were a few books and a lot of music. Our food and our furniture were no different from our neighbors'.”

Book Different Home House Patterns Neighbor Furniture House Music

Book:You Never Leave Brooklyn: The Autobiography of Emanuel Celler

Source: You Never Leave Brooklyn: The Autobiography of Emanuel Celler