If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong.
AARON COPLANDArthur V. Berger commenting on the music of Aaron Copland: Here is at last an American that we may place unapologetically beside the great recognized creative figures of any other country.
More Aaron Copland Quotes
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Someone once asked me… whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: “Every day!”
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If one were asked to name one musician who came closest to composing without human flaw, I suppose general consensus would choose Johann Sebastian Bach.
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I hope my recordings of my own works won’t inhibit other people’s performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn’t always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.
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I adore extravagance but I abhor waste.
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Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific.
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The melody is generally what the piece is all about.
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The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer would be, “Yes”, And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be “No.”
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To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.
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A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination.
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Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness.
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You may feel depressed, but it can’t be so depressing that you can’t move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression!
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Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.
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A melody is not merely something you can hum.
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The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.
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Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.
AARON COPLAND