Debussy would sit himself down without speaking at the piano of the little study-cum-library and start to improvise. Anyone who knew him can remember what it was like. He would start by brushing the keys, prodding the odd one here and there, making a pass over them and then he would sink into velvet, sometimes accompanying himself, his head down, in an attractive nasal voice, like a sung whisper. He gave the impression of delivering the piano of its sound, like a mother of her child. He cradled it, sang to it softly, like a rider to his horse, like a shepherd to his flock, like a thresher to his oxen.
A. Martin, Claude Debussy , Paris, 1942, in R. Nichols, Debussy Remembered, Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 49–50.
– Léon-Paul Fargue
Debussy improvising
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Golden rules for an orchestra
‘”There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between.” – Thomas Beecham, conductor. Cited at: Quotationsbook
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Many an Orpheus and Arions make up a BachJohann 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 […]
Prayer of Thanksgiving to the TrinityTitle: Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Trinity Text: St. Catherine’s Dialogue on Divine Providence Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Concert band (Flt. 1 & 2, Cl. 1 & 2, Alt. Sax., Ten. Sax., Bar. Sax., Trpt 1 & 2, trb, tub., perc.) Product medium: PDF score and parts Related products: – Prayer of Thanksgiving to the […]
Encouraging progress“I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.” – Charles M. Schwab, American businessman Cited at Quotd.
Form your own interpretationI have often made the point in masterclasses that students should not listen to lots of recordings of a piece they are learning. I’m always a little horrified when I hear a student say, “My teacher told me to learn the Chopin G minor Ballade, so I went to the library and took out eight […]
Shostakovich on music“There can be no music without idealogy … We, as revolutionaries, have a different conception of music from the composers of other [non Soviet-Russia] countries. Lenin himself said the “Music is a means of unifying people”. It is not a leader of the masses, perhaps, but certainly an organising force … I think an artist […]
Difficult music is the easiest to playScriabin’s fiery D#-minor Etude, with its relentless triplets and huge leaps, used to just fall under my fingers, while the Lento final movement of the Copland Sonata was a minefield of wrong notes. Why is that? Is it just because we practice hard music 20 times as much as easy music, or is it psychological, […]
Tin Pan AlleyTin Pan Alley refers to the concentration of music publishers in New York City, West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. It started around 1885 and lasted till the depression in the 1930s. It’s title comes from the the sound of all the cheap, tinny pianos playing, being likened to the beating of tin […]
Be a work of art“One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.” Oscar Wilde, Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young