Empty pockets“Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.” – Norman Vincent Peale, American author and preacher Cited at QuotationsBook
Any room for me?“Arthur Rubinstein was standing in the lobby of a concert hall proudly watching the audience filing in to hear one of his recitals. Finally, when the last one had gone in, Rubinstein made a move to enter. An usher blocked his way. ‘Sold out, mister’, he said, and to reinforce his words he pointed to […]
Handel and the sopranoThe great singer, Cuzzoni, refused to sing an air of his the way he wished it. He seized her, and, dragging her to a window, threatened to throw her out, thundering, “I always knew you were a devil, but I’ll show you that I am Beelzebub, the prince of devils.” Hughes, Rupert (2004) The Love […]
Saint-Saens on Bach and Mozart“What gives Sebastian Bach and Mozart a place apart is that these two great expressive composers never sacrificed form to expression. As high as their expression may soar, their musical form remains supreme and all-sufficient.” – Camille Saint-Saëns, from a letter to Camille Bellaigue, 1907 Cited in: Fisk, Josiah (ed.) (1997) Composers On Music: Eight […]
What a difference an audience makesMozart was in Paris in 1778. He visited the duchess of Chabot, Elisabeth-Louise de la Rochefoucauld, wife of Louis-Antoine-Auguste de Rohan. Mozart described the visit in a letter to his father: A week went by without any reply, but she had informed me to see her in a week’s time, so kept my word and […]
Autumn LeavesPianist Roger Williams on his hit recording of Autumn Leaves (which was recorded three days after signing his contract with Kapp records): “I said, ‘You mean ‘Falling Leaves’? I didn’t even know the title,” Mr. Williams told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. “I stayed up Friday and then Saturday night working on an arrangement.” […]
CompositionGREG SMITH Composer, arranger, and pianist Greg Smith is an Australian composer and pianist based in New South Wales. Greg majored in piano and composition at The University of Newcastle, completing a Bachelor of Music with first-class honours with a university medal in 2001. He completed a Master of Creative Arts in piano performance, studying […]
The experience of composition“I am not suited to ‘writing music’. All has to be experienced.” -Jean Sibelius Cited in:Goss, Glenda (2009) “Sibelius”. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, p. 6.
Spontaneity and artAlexander Gow, musician in the band Oh Mercy on spontaneity of artistic creation: [Spontaneity is] when art is expression, and that’s what I’m interested in. If, like you said, there’s a spontaneity to it and it’s an extension of a certain kind of moment or feeling, and if you’re clever enough to express that through […]
Music as an emotional scienceMusic sets up a certain vibration which unquestionably results in a physical reaction. Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized. I like to think of music as an emotional science. — George Gershwin Daniel Albright. Modern and Music: An Anthology of Sources. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, p. 388.
