Charles Rosen (1927–2012) American pianist and writer on music
Source: The Frontiers of Meaning: Three Informal Lectures on Music (1994), Ch. 1 : The Frontiers of Nonsense
“What is not heartrending is superfluous, at least in music.”
Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
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Emil M. Cioran531
Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911–1995Related quotes
Walter Raymond Spalding (1865–1962) American music pedagogue and author
Page 3 https://books.google.com/books?id=pQARAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3. <br class="br">Music: An Art and a Language (1920), Preliminary Considerations (Ch. I)
“Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is.”
Miles Davis (1926–1991) American jazz musician
“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.”
Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian
Post-Prime Ministerial
“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.”
Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French politician
As quoted in The Unlawful Concert : An Account of the Presidio Mutiny Case (1970) by Fred Gardner.
Unsourced French: Il suffit d'ajouter "militaire" à un mot pour lui faire perdre sa signification. Ainsi la justice militaire n'est pas la justice, la musique militaire n'est pas la musique.
It suffices to add "military" to a word for it to lose its meaning. Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) French composer
Letter to Paul Dukas (1901)
Context: I confess that I am no longer thinking in musical terms, or at least not much, even though I believe with all my heart that Music remains for all time the finest means of expression we have. It’s just that I find the actual pieces — whether they’re old or modern, which is in any case merely a matter of dates — so totally poverty-stricken, manifesting an inability to see beyond the work-table. They smell of the lamp, not of the sun. And then, overshadowing everything, there’s the desire to amaze one’s colleagues with arresting harmonies, quite unnecessary for the most part. In short, these days especially, music is devoid of emotional impact. I feel that, without descending to the level of the gossip column or the novel, it should be possible to solve the problem somehow. There’s no need either for music to make people think! … It would be enough if music could make people listen, despite themselves and despite their petty mundane troubles, and never mind if they’re incapable of expressing anything resembling an opinion. It would be enough if they could no longer recognize their own grey, dull faces, if they felt that for a moment they had been dreaming of an imaginary country, that’s to say, one that can’t be found on the map.
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) American poet
"Love the Wild Swan" (1935)
Context: This wild swan of a world is no hunter's game.
Better bullets than yours would miss the white breast
Better mirrors than yours would crack in the flame.
Does it matter whether you hate your... self?
At least Love your eyes that can see, your mind that can
Hear the music, the thunder of the wings. Love the wild swan.