Elliott Carter Quotes

Yes, I get a report from BMI about the frequency of performances, and it is very surprising. They played one of my most advanced pieces, and one of my most unusual ones on the radio.

My musical life started with hearing and being fascinated by contemporary music.

Aaron Copland was a man that had a very specific point of view about what music should be which was that, he felt that new music should have the composer should show a personality in his music.

The Third Quartet I made the instruments in pairs – Two different pairs – Violin and viola, and violin and cello. They played very different things from each other all through the whole piece.

Almost every one of my various zero numbered birthdays has had a big concert in London and often in Paris.

That was one of the big problems when I was at Harvard studying music. We had to write choral pieces in the style of Brahms or Mendelssohn, which was distressing because in the end you realized how good Brahms is, and how bad you are.

It was only later on that I became more interested in older music.

Since I’m allergic to various things, the army wouldn’t accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

An auditory scenario for the players to act out with their instruments.

Well when I was young, when I was very young, when I was a little boy I don’t remember the music I heard, but there was an article in the Brooklyn Daily written by my Aunt about how I could choose phonograph records.

The Quartets have been a major part of my work.

These wealthy people were very interested in contemporary music. They wanted to help diffuse it and get it to be known to other people.

Well I tried to, but I could never write anything that I liked or was worthwhile. I threw it all out and realized that I had to make a serious study- that my tastes were far more advanced than my abilities.

I mean the public likes it more in Europe than they do here because the state supported organizations have felt that playing contemporary music was part of the education of the public.

In any case, Ives encouraged me to go into music even though he himself had such a hard time being a composer.