Quote

A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination.

Aaron Copland

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Aaron Copland
Age: 90 †
Born: 1900
Born: November 14
Died: 1990
Died: December 2
Choreographer
Composer
Conductor
Film Score Composer
Jazz Musician
Music Critic
Music Pedagogue
Musicologist
Pianist
Brooklyn
New York
Leave
Great
Irresistibly
Made
Mississippi
Long
Symphony
Men
Destination
Instant
Flow
Taking

More quotes by Aaron Copland

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If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.
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Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.
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Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.
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You may feel depressed, but it can't be so depressing that you can't move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression!
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So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.
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The melody is generally what the piece is all about.
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Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.
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The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.
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I don't compose. I assemble materials.
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To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.
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Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: Every day!
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You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.
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This whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer to that would be, “Yes.” And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, “No.”
Aaron Copland
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The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking Is there a meaning to music? My answer would be, Yes, And Can you state in so many words what the meaning is? My answer to that would be No.
Aaron Copland
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Most people use music as a couch they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But serious music was never meant to be soporific.
Aaron Copland
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The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.
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I hope my recordings of my own works won't inhibit other people's performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn't always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.
Aaron Copland
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Arthur V. Berger commenting on the music of Aaron Copland: Here is at last an American that we may place unapologetically beside the great recognized creative figures of any other country.
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If one were asked to name one musician who came closest to composing without human flaw, I suppose general consensus would choose Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness.
Aaron Copland