Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov quotes

  • I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world's music and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.
    -- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    #Ideas #Historical #World

  • Orchestration is part of the very soul of the work. A work is thought out in terms of the orchestra, certain tone-colors being inseparable from it in the mind of its creator and native to it from the hour of its birth.
    -- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    #Color #Soul #Mind

  • Thus having been undeservedly accepted at the Conservatory as a professor, I soon became one of its best and possibly its very best pupil, judging by the quantity and value of the information it gave me!
    -- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    #Judging #Information #Accepted

  • What terrible harm Wagner did by interspersing his pages of genius with harmonic and modulatory outrages to which both young and old are gradually becoming accustomed and which have procreated d'Indy and Richard Strauss.
    -- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    #Genius #Pages #Becoming

  • A false idea is not only one which is absolutely subjective but one which is absolutely objective.

  • To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.

  • Every time some new huckster of angst-ridden metaphor is appointed by Art Forum, the congregation genuflects, stroking the catalog like a handful of Rosary beads, and starts spreading that old gospel according to Hyperbole. No questions asked... And thus the bill of goods is sold, all along the line. An art historical snake, swallowing its own tale.

  • For the sake of historical truth I must verify that only the Greeks, of all the adversaries who confronted us, fought with bold courage and highest disregard of death.

  • I was not aware of how much I loved 'Canoa' until I saw it after doing 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' and realized that my voice - over about the story's historical context - that narrator - came from 'Canoa'.

  • You either get the point of Africa or you don't. What draws me back year after year is that it's like seeing the world with the lid off.

  • The Christian is not obedient unless he is doing all in his power to send the Gospel to the heathen world.

  • Perils as well as privileges attend the higher Christian life. The nearer we come to God, the thicker the hosts of darkness in heavenly places. Aggressive Christianity is the world's greatest need.

  • Keeping up appearances is the most expensive thing in the world.

  • Let me tell you, though: being the smartest boy in the world wasn’t easy. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this. On the contrary, it was a huge burden. First, there was the task of keeping my brain perfectly protected. My cerebral cortex was a national treasure, a masterpiece of the Sistine Chapel of brains. This was not something that could be treated frivolously. If I could have locked it in a safe, I would have. Instead, I became obsessed with brain damage.