It’s not hard work

“Talent labors, genius creates.”

Florestan (one of Schumann’s characters)

Robert Schumann,Gesammelte Schriften über Musik und Muisker  (Leipzig, 1854), IV.  Cited in Weiss, Piero & Taruskin, Richard (2008) Music in the Western World: A History in Documents.  California: Thomson, p. 306.


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Britten on composing
“Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house.  Slowly you see more details of the house – the colour of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows.  The notes are the bricks and mortar of the house.” – Benjamin Britten. Cited in: Jarski, Rosemarie (2005) Great British Wit.  London: Ebury […]
Sondheim on audiences
“I do think audiences become more sophisticated. You try something out on them and they say, “Ugh”. You try it a second time and they say, “Oh”. You try it a third time and they say, “Ooh”. You try it a fourth time and they say, “Oh, that’s awfully old hat.”’ He laughs. ‘That’s the […]
Widerstehe doch der Sünde (J. S. Bach)
Title: Widerstehe doch der Sünde (from Cantata BWV 54)Composer: Johann Sebastian BachArranger: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoProduct medium: PDF score Sample:
Love Came Down At Christmas (piano)
Title: Love came down at Christmas Text: Christina Rossetti Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano solo Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – Love came down at Christmas – SATB and piano     – Love came down at Christmas – Piano solo (MP3) hase_link id=”1673″ text=”Purchase” style=”button” color=”blue”] Samples:
Ode II
Title: Ode II Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 recording     Related products:     – Ode II (PDF score) SAMPLE:
Music is a mysterious form of mathematics
Music is a mysterious form of mathematics whose elements are derived from the infinite. Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes. There is nothing more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in […]
Valley of shadows
“When walking through the valley of shadows, remember, a shadow is cast by a Light.” – H. K. Barclay Cited at: QuotationsBook
Piano
Saint-Saëns on the art of music
The artist who does not feel completely satisfied by elegant lines, by harmonious colours, and by a beautiful succession of chords does not understand the art of music. — Camille Saint-Saëns Cited in Milton Cross David Ewan, Encyclopedia of Great Composers and Their Music, volume 2. Double Day, 1969, p.819.
Many an Orpheus and Arions make up a Bach
Johann Matthias Gesner was a colleague of Johann Sebastian Bach at St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig. He later worked on a commentary of the Roman author Quintilian (c. 35-100 A. D.). He included a comparison of Bach with the Classical lyre player: All these (outstanding achievements) … you would reckon trivial could you rise from the dead and […]