Aaron Copland Quotes
To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.
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.
The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.
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.
Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.
The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It's useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.
Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.
Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t.
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.
Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: "Every day!"
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.
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.
Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness.
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.
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.
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!
Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, orperhaps of subconsciousness—I wouldn't know. But I amsure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.
