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Musical Composition Quotes

Browse 24 quotes about Musical Composition.

Musical Composition Quotes

“The Analytical Engine might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine… Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.”

ShouldMightActionFoundSoundNumbersPiecesObjectsExpressionDegreesRelationHarmonyFundamentalsMusicalInstanceOperationsAbstractComplexityMutualEnginesMechanismCompositionAdaptationSusceptibleSupposingMutual FundMusical Composition
Author:Ada Lovelace
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“Writers and musicians know well the importance of extensive reading for successful writing or extensive listening for musical composition. Likewise, visual artists... understand that successful artistic creativity depends upon extensive visual exposure.”

KnowsWritingWellsArtistReadingCreativitySuccessfulListeningDependsMusicianImportanceMusicalArtisticVisualsCompositionExposureVisual ArtVisual ArtistArtistic CreativityMusical CompositionSuccessful WritingExtensive Reading
Author:Paul Laseau
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“The point of recapitulation in the first movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony unleashes one of the most horrifyingly violent episodes in the history of music....The point is not to hold up Beethoven as exceptionally monstrous. The Ninth Symphony is probably our most compelling articulation in music of the contradictory impulses that have organized patriarchal culture since the Enlightenment. Moreover, within the parameters of his own musical compositions, he may be heard as enacting a critique of narrative obligations that is...devestating.”

FirstsMayCultureHeardMovementEnlightenmentMusicalViolentObligationNarrativeImpulseOrganizedEpisodesCompellingCompositionContradictorySymphonyCritiqueMonstrousParametersArticulationHistory Of MusicMusical CompositionRecapitulation
Author:Susan McClary
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“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words.”

MusicMusicianMusic IsMusicalListening To MusicClassical MusicMusic LovePlaying MusicGreat MusicInspirational MusicPower Of MusicWriting MusicArt And MusicMusic SoulFunny MusicMusic LifeWorld MusicGreat MusicianSound Of MusicMusic And LifeFamous MusicianMusic Is LifeMusic EducationMusic LoverClassic MusicSound And MusicMusical LifeOld MusicSweet MusicPoetry And MusicWords And MusicMusic SpeaksModern MusicPowerful MusicMusic And HealingMusic ArtistGreatest MusicMusic HealingNotes MusicSpiritual MusicFun MusicHarmony In MusicHistory Of MusicMusic WritingMusical CompositionLiterature And MusicMusic TherapyMusic LessonsGreatest MusicianMusician Love
Author:Victor Hugo
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“For the artist, the goal of the painting or musical composition is not to convey literal truth, but an aspect of a universal truth that if successful, will continue to move and to touch people even as contexts, societies and cultures change. For the scientist, the goal of a theory is to convey "truth for now"--to replace an old truth, while accepting that someday this theory, too, will be replaced by a new "truth," because that is the way science advances.”

PeopleIfsWayMovingArtistCultureGoalAcceptingSuccessfulPaintingTheoryTruth IsAspectScientistUniversalMusicalSomedayCompositionReplacedLiteralUniversal TruthCulture ChangeSociety And CultureMusical Composition
Author:Daniel Levitin
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“When I create I don't think in technical or mathematical terms until the idea is formulated Musical composition is formulated in improvisation. Once a pianist like myself sits down and begins to play and start thinking about what I am writing all of a sudden a little tune will emerge, a little spot light and I'll go, "That's interesting."”

ThinkingWritingLittlesIdeasPlayLightTermInterestingDown AndMusicalSpotsMathematicalTunesCompositionImprovisationPianistMusical Composition
Author:Aaron Zigman
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“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

HumansKindArtWisdomSoundPleasureHealingMusicHuman NatureProduceHealthSelf ImprovementMusicalComposerDopePlaying MusicInspirational MusicPower Of MusicUniversal LanguageFunny MusicWithout MusicMusic LifeSound Of MusicMusic And LifeFamous MusicianMusic EducationSound And MusicMusical LifeOld MusicWords And MusicInstrumental MusicFun MusicMusical CompositionMusic TherapyLife Without MusicProducing Music
Author:Confucius
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“While people are fairly young and the musical composition of their lives is still in its opening bars, they can go about writing it together and sharing motifs (the way Tomas and Sabina exchanged the motif of the bowler hat), but if they meet when they are older, like Franz and Sabina, their musical compositions are more or less complete, and every motif, every object, every word means something different to each of them.”

PeopleIfsWayWritingMeanStillsDifferentTogetherYoungLife IsObjectsMusicalBarsOpeningHatsCompositionMotifsBowlersMusical CompositionBowler Hats
Author:Milan Kundera
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“It is a shallow criticism that would define poetry as confined to literary productions in rhyme and meter rhythm. The written poem is only poetry talking, and the statue, the picture, and the musical composition are poetry acting. Milton and Goethe, at their desks, were not more truly poets than Phidias with his chisel, Raphael at his easel, or deaf Beethoven bending over his piano, inventing and producing strains, which he himself could never hope to hear.”

ArtActingTalkingWrittenPoetCriticismMusicalProductionsRhythmPianoCompositionDesksRhymeShallowStrainDeafStatuesConfinedInventingMeterBendingMiltonRaphaelChiselsMusical CompositionBending OverPhidias
Author:John Ruskin
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“In every art beginners must start with models of those who have practiced the same art before them. And it is not only a matter of looking at the drawings, paintings, musical compositions, and poems that have been and are being created; it is a matter of being drawn into the individual work of art, of realizing that it has been made by a real human being, and trying to discover the secret of its creation.”

TryingHumansHas BeensArtMadeRealMatterIndividualRealizingHuman BeingsSecretCreationPaintingModelsArt IsMusicalDrawingWorks Of ArtCompositionMentoringBeginnersReal HumanMusical CompositionIndividual Work
Book:Becoming a poet: source, process, practice
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“A young man, just beginning the study of musical composition, once went to Mozart and asked him the formula for developing the theme of a symphony. Mozart suggested that a symphony was rather an ambitious project for a beginner: perhaps the young man might better try his hand at something simpler first. "But you were writing symphonies when you were my age." the student protested. "Yes, but I didn't have to ask how."”

MenWritingTryingFirstsHandsMightAgeYoungAsksMusicStudyStudentsProjectsMusicalDevelopingYoung ManThemeFormulasAmbitiousCompositionSymphonyBeginnersMusical Composition
Author:James Keller
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“Musical compositions can be very sad - Chopin - but you have the pleasure of this sadness. The cheap consolation is: you will be happy. The higher consolation is the pleasure and recognition of your unhappiness, the pleasure of having recognised that fate, destiny and life are such as they are and so you reach a higher form of consciousness.”

FormPleasureConsciousnessDestinyFateSadnessHigherMusicalRecognitionUnhappinessCompositionConsolationVery SadFate DestinyLife And DestinyMusical Composition
Author:Umberto Eco
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