An art gathers new material usually by an original rejection of old formulae, a gesture of negation. At the beginning, this gesture is conscious, defiant, it lacks any other reason for existence than the very healthy one that dogma is death. In the turmoil of growth and expansion, this negation and denial loses its identity as such, and is metamorphosed into a positive entity; the fruit of the gesture remains, and is welded into the body of the old material.
H. Pollack, Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World, New York, Oxford University Press, p.36.
— Marc Blitzstein
New art and the old formulae
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When my students compose, I prefer them to be mistaken if they must make mistakes, but to remain natural and free rather than wishing to appear other than what they are. I remember a day when Stravinsky was dining here. He took his neighbor at the table by the lapels, violently! His neighbor crushed, said […]
In Memory of Those in ParadiseTitle: In Memory of Those in Paradise Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score SAMPLE:
Einstein on MozartEinstein wrote that Mozart’s music “was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.” Lyth, David (2019) The Road to Einstein’s Relativity. Boca Ranton: CRC Press, p.131.
BeautyThe academic teaching on beauty is false. We have been misled, but so completely misled that we can no longer find so much as a shadow of a truth again. The beauties of the Parthenon, the Venuses, the Nymphs, the Narcisusses, are so many lies. Art is not the application of a canon of beauty, […]
Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest)Title: Jack Sparrow, from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s ChestComposer: Hans ZimmerArranger: Greg SmithInstrumentation: Solo cello, string orchestra, tom-tom (optional)Product medium: PDF score and parts Available from Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct
I am BeethovenAn account of Beethoven being lost in his creative world: Thayer tells us of a conversation he had with a Professor Blasius Höfel, a teacher of fine arts at Weiner Neustadt, a little town near Vienna. one evening, Höfel was in a tavern with some of his colleagues, the Commissioner of Police being a member […]
Beethoven distractedA student of Beethoven’s, Ferdinand Ries, went on a walk with his teacher in the country: Beethoven muttered and howled the whole time, without emitting any definite notes. When I asked him what he was doing he answered, “A theme for the last allegro of the sonata [the Appassionata] has occurred to me.” When we […]
The Lord Upholds My Life – Psalm 53 (54)Title: The Lord upholds my life Text: Psalm 53 (54):3-6. 8 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano (unison verses) Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
The Fox (New Year’s Day)Composer: Greg SmithTitle: “The Fox (New Year’s Day)” from Tableaux Performer: Greg Smith (January 2025)Instrumentation: Piano
Scores and recordingsRecordings Scores Brass Brass ensemble Trombone Orchestra/Concert band Concert band Piano Piano solo Piano method Strings Cello and piano String ensemble Vocal and choral General Sacred Woodwind Bassoon