Edgard Varese quotes
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“Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.”
-- Edgard Varese -
“There is an idea, the basis of an internal structure, expanded and split into different shapes or groups of sound constantly changing in shape, direction, and speed, attracted and repulsed by various forces.”
-- Edgard VareseSource : "Aspects of 20th Century Music". Book by R. Delone, May 1, 1975.
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“I don't want to write any more for the old Man-power instruments and am handicapped by the lack of adequate electrical instruments for which I now conceive my music.”
-- Edgard Varese -
“I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm.”
-- Edgard VareseSource : Edgard Varèse lecture, edited by Chou Wen-Chung, published in: "391", Nr. 5. June 17, 1917, translated by Louise Varèse; Quoted in: "Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music: A Continuing Symposium", 1996.
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“Our musical alphabet is poor and illogical.”
-- Edgard VareseSource : Edgard Varèse lecture, edited by Chou Wen-Chung, published in: "391", Nr. 5. Translated by Louise Varèse; Quoted in: "Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music: A Continuing Symposium" (1996), June 17, 1917.
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“Music, which should pulsate with life, needs new means of expression, and science alone can infuse it with youthful vigor.”
-- Edgard VareseSource : "Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music". Book by Richard Kostelanetz, 1996.
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“I was not influenced by composers as much as by natural objects and physical phenomena.”
-- Edgard VareseSource : "Sound Structure in Music". Book by Robert Erickson, 1975.
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“Our musical alphabet is poor and illogical. Music, which should pulsate with life, needs new means of expression, and science alone can infuse it with youthful vigor. Why, Italian Futurists, have you slavishly reproduced only what is commonplace and boring in the bustle of our daily lives. I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm.”
-- Edgard Varese -
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“I have just begun a work in which an important part is given to a large chorus and with it I want to use several of your instruments - augmenting their range as in those I used for my Equatorial - especially in the high range.”
-- Edgard Varese -
“I do not write experimental music. My experimenting is done before I make the music. Afterwards it is the listener who must experiment.”
-- Edgard Varese -
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“Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.”
-- Edgard VareseSource : As quoted by Martha Graham in Dance Observer, Volumes 24-27, p. 5, 1957.
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