Best Classical Composers Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is.”

People Social Inspiring Communication Music Is Strongest Gestures Classical Composers

“Physicists are more like avant-garde composers, willing to bend traditional rules... Mathematicians are more like classical composers.”

Science Willing Mathematics Traditional Composer Mathematician Physicist Avant Garde Classical Composers

Author:Brian Greene

“I occasionally play works by contemporary composers and for two reasons. First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven.”

Writing Firsts Two Reason Play Appreciate Contemporary Composer Classical Music Discouraging Classical Composers

Author:Jascha Heifetz

“I would prefer to listen to a French classical composer like Olivier Messiaen than to the pop hits of the day.”

Pops Composer Classical Composers

Author:Matt Groening

“You think about, like, [20th-century classical composers] Alban Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern sitting around in some living room in Vienna and being like, "We are the end of music. We are the end of this tradition. Music is done."”

Thinking Ends Done Rooms Century Music Is Sitting Tradition Composer 20th Century Living Room Sitting Around Vienna Classical Composers Schoenberg Webern

Author:David Longstreth

“[Phil wood] put on some [Igor] Stravinsky and say to follow the score, tell me to play me the opening to the Rite of Spring. Or, "I'm going to play you some 20th century obscure classical composer you don't know". Or, "Let's listen to some Charles Ives, let's sight read some Bartok violin duets", etc.”

Knows Play Century Spring Sight Woods Opening Score Etc Composer Obscure 20th Century Violin Rite Duets Stravinsky Classical Composers Bartok

Author:Jon Gordon

“Jazz has been such a force in music, that any musician, including classical composers, have been influenced, and obviously performers, also.”

Has Beens Force Musician Jazz Including Performers Composer Classical Composers

Author:Yo-Yo Ma

“Competitions are for horses, not artists.”

Inspirational Art Funny Artist Inspiring Humorous Horse Competition Composer Pianist Classical Composers

Author:Bela Bartok

“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”

Source: Chagall at the Met

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”

Source: Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words

“Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.”

World Music Knowledge Mankind Higher Music Is Musical Composer Entrances Inspirational Music World Music Music Theory Classical Composers

Author:Ludwig van Beethoven

“Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.”

Writing Earth Can Do Music Jazz Musical Thank God Composer Composing Writing Music Art And Music Famous Musician Classic Music Composing Music Classical Composers Classical Musicians Music Writing

Author:Ludwig van Beethoven

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.”

“I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer.”

Want Sound Composer Not Interested Orchestra Classical Music Classical Composers

Author:Leonard Bernstein

“To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.”

“Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.”

Art Artist Inspiring Architecture Stealing Composer Great Artist Composing Famous Musician Classical Composers

Author:Igor Stravinsky

“The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music they should be taught to love it instead.”

People Should Music Too Much Trouble Taught Humorous Appreciation Composer Classical Music Composing Composing Music Classical Composers Classical Musicians Appreciation In Relationships Oboes

Author:Igor Stravinsky

“I loved Hendrix. I mean, really, really loved him. As if he were one of the great classical composers. And he was. That's how I saw him.”

Ifs Mean Saws Composer Hairstyles Hendrix Classical Composers

Author:Warren Zevon

“You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. (Oscar trying to talk his way out of a speeding ticket)”

“When I was 20, Shostakovich was my favorite composer. I still find his Fifth Symphony wonderful, with its outstanding themes and rhythms. That's the piece that made me want to be a classical composer.”

Want Made Stills Pieces Wonderful My Favorite Rhythm Theme Composer Fifth Symphony Outstanding Classical Composers Shostakovich

Author:Dave Brubeck

“Everything we do is music." (Classical Composer)(From: 4'33")”

Composer Classical Composers

Author:John Cage

“A great ancient poet was blind. A great classical composer was deaf. Many of us are dumb. What have we to show for it?”

Shows Poet Blind Ancient Dumb Composer Deaf Classical Composers

Author:Vera Nazarian

“Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”

Source: Chagall at the Met

“Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.”

“I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.”

Firsts May Inspiring Music Class Rate Composer Second Chance Composing First Class Second Rate I May Not Be Classical Composers

Author:Richard Strauss

“Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man's faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements.”

Men Art Inspiration Inspiring Awareness Talent Achievement Awakening Artistic Faculty Capability Composer Classical Music Composing Quickening Classical Composers Artistic Temperament

Author:Giacomo Puccini

“The only love affair I have ever had was with music.”

Love Inspiring Affair Classical Music Love Affair Only Love Composing Classical Composers

Author:Maurice Ravel

“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”

“But there's a thin line between songwriting and arranging. ... Recording at home enables one to eliminate the demo stage, and the presentation stage in the studio, too. ... And I think it's safe to say that the single very impressive figure to me was Merle Haggard. ... Dylan can do no wrong. ... Glenn Gould was my hero. Glenn Gould was my idol. I loved him. ... I loved Hendrix. I mean, really, really loved him. As if he were one of the great classical composers. And he was. That's how I saw him.”

“... Andres Segovia literally created the genre of classical guitar, which hadn't existed before around 1910. There was flamenco, which he borrowed from, but he actually arranged the works of Mozart and other classical composers for guitar, something that had never been done before ... Segovias' style is not slick or contrived, but it's still very clean and his timing is impeccable ... it's got a feeling of casual elegance, as if he's sitting around the house in Spain with a jug of wine, just playing from the heart.”

“I am a ham. I've no business being rock 'n' roll. I've said it over and over again that I'm a classical composer, dishevelling my personality by dabbling in rock 'n' roll.”

Said Rocks Personality Composer Rock N Roll Ham Classical Composers Dabbling

Author:John Cale

“Works of art make rules but rules do not make works of art.”

Art Musician Works Of Art Classical Music Composing Famous Musician Classical Composers

Author:Claude Debussy

“I tend to listen to the classical composers: Rachmaninov, Satie.”

Composer Listen To Your Heart Classical Composers

Author:Enya

Classical Composers Quotes

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Classical Composers Quotes