Music is at once the product of feeling and knowledge, for it requires from its disciples, composers and performers alike, not only talent and enthusiasm, but also that knowledge and perception which are the result of protracted study and reflection.
Hector Berlioz, A Travers Chants.
Cited in I. Lipsius, Thoughts of Great Musicians, London, Augener, 1886, p. 9, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002299295b&view=1up&seq=6.
Music: the product of feeling and knowledge
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Diderot on good music
“Good music is very close to primitive language.” Denis Diderot (Elements of Physiology, 1875)
Chopin and touchIf a student played with excessive tone, Chopin would say “What was that? A dog barking?” Source: Carter, Gerard (2008) The Piano Book. Ashfield: Wensleydale Press, p.68
The fire of knowledge“When teaching, light a fire, don’t fill a bucket.” – Dan Snow, television presenter. Cited at QuotationsBook
The weird people“Blessed are the weird people–poets, misfits, writers, mystics…painters & troubadours–for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.” — Jacob Nordby Jacob Nordby (2016) Blessed are the Wierd: A Manefesto for Creatives, Boise: Manifesto, Publishing House, p.8.
Mozart on aestheticsMozart’s musical aesthetics are revealed in a letter to his father about Osmin’s first aria in The Abduction of the Seraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). The Eighteenth century classical ideals of balance and refinement are evident: I have sent you only the beginning and the end of the aria. I think it will prove […]
Impromptu (Sibelius)Title: Impromptu (Op. 97, no.5) Composer: Jean Sibelius (arr. Greg Smith) Instrumentation: Trombone and piano Product medium: PDF score and part
Abstraction VITitle: Abstraction VI Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
It’s Oh So QuietIn 1995, Bjork released a big band jazz cover of Betty Hutton’s 1948 hit “Blow a Fuse”. This was a cover of an Austrian song “Und jetzt ist es still” by Hans Lang and Erich Meder. Bjork said of the song: Isn’t that the best song you’ve heard for five years? In a way it […]
Pieces to belong to performers“That’s what I find wonderful about music: there is always a secret left, pieces don’t belong to performers, you rent them!” – Joseph Moog, Pianist W. Boon, “Joseph Moog”, Pianistique, 5 November 2016, https://www.pianistique.com/home/english-interviews/15-interviews/75-joseph-moog, accessed 17 January 2022.
The mannerisms of PachmannThe Russian pianist, Vladimir von Pachmann was known for his funny mannerisms: Everyone knows that the Russian pianist has funny ways of his own, which the public tolerate for the pleasure he affords them as an artist. On this occasion, we read, he remarked, first of all, “Too few people; I cannot play. This is […]