Debussy on Metronome markingsYou know what I think about metronome marks: they’re right for a single bar, like “roses, with a morning life”. Only there are “those” who don’t hear music and who take these marks as authority to hear it still less! But do what you please. — Debussy, Letter to Jacques Durand of 9 October 1915 […]
The experience of beauty“The experience of beauty … consists of finding a spiritual value (truth, happiness, moral ideals) at home in a material setting (rhythm, line, shape, structure) and in such a way that, while we contemplate the object, the two seem inseparable.” – John Armstrong, The Secret Power of Beauty.
The value of education“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Derek Bok, American lawyer and educator Cited at: QuotationsBook
Matheson and Handel’s duelTwo flamboyant young musickers leave the town of Lübeck as soon as can be. For they have learned that the successful candidate must marry the daughter of the man in whose shoes they would fain have trodden the pedals. One look at the daughter was enough. She was not fair to see, and her years […]
Gershwin: the life at the partyGershwin was often the life of a party, entertaining on the piano. He said: “The trouble is, when I don’t play at a party I don’t have a good time.” Cited in: Greenberg, Rodney (2008) George Gershwin. New York: Phaidon Press, p.47.
Musicians in Dresden in 1720s”There was rivalry among the musicians in Dresden in the 1720s. Daniel Heartz describes some incidents: Silvius Weiss, the famous lutenist, saw his livelihood threatened when he was attacked by a French violinist named Petit, who attempted to bite off the top joint of his right thumb. On 13 August 1722 Veracini jumped to the […]
George Gershwin at the pianoThe theatre director Rouben Mamoulian describes Gershwin’s playing: George at the piano was George happy … like a sorcerer celebrating his Sabbath. He would draw out a lovely melody like a golden thread, then juggle it, twist it and toss it around mischievously, weave it into unexpected intricate patterns, and hurl it into a cascade […]
Mozart and Beethoven“Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each […]
The current state of the recording industryFounder Klaus Heymann, founder of the successful NAXOS label, on the current state of the classical music recording industry: “We can’t live off CD sales anymore,” says the German-born Heymann, 75, speaking by phone from his base in Hong Kong. When Naxos began, Heymann proved that you could make money selling tens of thousands of […]
Mozart on melody“Melody is the essence of music”, continued he; “I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack post-horses; therefore be advised, let well alone, and remember the old Italian proverb – ‘Chi sa piu, meno sa – Who knows most, knows least’.” The Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, 1826. Cited in: Marshal, […]
