Igor Stravinsky Quotes And Sayings

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-American composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky’s compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity.

The Church Knew What The Psalmist Knew: Music Praises God. Music Is Well Or Better Able To Praise Him Than The Building Of The Church And All Its Decoration; It Is The Church's Greatest Ornament.

Lesser Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal.

Lesser Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal.

What Force Is More Potent Than Love?

Sins Cannot Be Undone, Only Forgiven.

The Principle Of The Endless Melody Is The Perpetual Becoming Of A Music That Never Had Any Reason For Starting, Any More Than It Has Any Reason For Ending.

Conductors' Careers Are Made For The Most Part With 'Romantic' Music. 'Classic' Music Eliminates The Conductor; We Do Not Remember Him In It.

I Am An Inventor Of Music.

Harpists Spend 90 Percent Of Their Lives Tuning Their Harps And 10 Percent Playing Out Of Tune.

What Gives The Artist Real Prestige Is His Imitators.

Why Is It That Whenever I Hear A Piece Of Music I Don't Like, It's Always By Villa-lobos?

My Music Is Best Understood By Children And Animals.

Film Music Should Have The Same Relationship To The Film Drama That Somebody's Piano Playing In My Living Room Has On The Book I Am Reading.

The Real Composer Thinks About His Work The Whole Time; He Is Not Always Conscious Of This, But He Is Aware Of It Later When He Suddenly Knows What He Will Do.

In Order To Create There Must Be A Dynamic Force, And What Force Is More Potent Than Love?

Is It Not By Love Alone That We Succeed In Penetrating To The Very Essence Of Being?

I Have Learned Throughout My Life As A Composer Chiefly Through My Mistakes And Pursuits Of False Assumptions, Not By My Exposure To Founts Of Wisdom And Knowledge.

A Good Composer Does Not Imitate; He Steals.

Too Many Pieces Of Music Finish Too Long After The End.

I Know That The Twelve Notes In Each Octave And The Variety Of Rhythm Offer Me Opportunities That All Of Human Genius Will Never Exhaust.

Money May Kindle, But It Cannot By Itself, And For Very Long, Burn.

Just As Appetite Comes By Eating, So Work Brings Inspiration, If Inspiration Is Not Discernible At The Beginning.

The More Constraints One Imposes, The More One Frees One's Self. And The Arbitrariness Of The Constraint Serves Only To Obtain Precision Of Execution.

A Plague On Eminence! I Hardly Dare Cross The Street Anymore Without A Convoy, And I Am Stared At Wherever I Go Like An Idiot Member Of A Royal Family Or An Animal In A Zoo; And Zoo Animals Have Been Known To Die From Stares.

I Am In The Present. I Cannot Know What Tomorrow Will Bring Forth. I Can Know Only What The Truth Is For Me Today. That Is What I Am Called Upon To Serve, And I Serve It In All Lucidity.

Music Is Given To Us With The Sole Purpose Of Establishing An Order In Things, Including, And Particularly, The Coordination Between Man And Time.

I Was Born Out Of Due Time In The Sense That By Temperament And Talent I Should Have Been More Suited For The Life Of A Small Bach, Living In Anonymity And Composing Regularly For An Established Service And For God.

To Listen Is An Effort, And Just To Hear Is No Merit. A Duck Hears Also.

The Trouble With Music Appreciation In General Is That People Are Taught To Have Too Much Respect For Music They Should Be Taught To Love It Instead.