If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
If one were asked to name one musician who came closest to composing without human flaw, I suppose general consensus would choose… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
“but I have always suspected that one could substitute the Minuet of Haydn’s 98th symphony for the Minuet in Haydn’s 99th symphony… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
“The symphony had its origin not in instrumental forms like the concerto grosso, as one might have expected, but in the overture… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
There is something about music that keeps its distance even at the moment that it engulfs us. It is at the same… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
“The fearsome critic and not-very-tough composer Virgil Thomson once drew up a set of rules for hearing an unfamiliar work; the last… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
You may be sitting in a room reading this book. Imagine one note struck upon the piano. Immediately that one note is… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
Mozart in his music was probably the most reasonable of the world's great composers. It is the happy balance between flight and… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
“Speaking generally, there are two kinds of descriptive music. The first comes under the heading of literal description. A composer wishes to… — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer would be, "Yes", And "Can you… — Aaron Copland Copy Share
“As a matter of fact, no one is more tiresome than the person who can understand only realism in art. It shows a rather… — Aaron Copland Copy Share
“Whatever comes under the heading of fugal form partakes in some way of the nature of a fugue. You already know, I feel sure,… — Aaron Copland Copy Share
“Every symphony, for example, is a sonata for orchestra; every string quartet is a sonata for four strings; every concerto a sonata for a… — Aaron Copland Copy Share
Most people use music as a couch; they want to be pillowed on it, relaxed and consoled for the stress of daily living. But… — Aaron Copland Copy Share
Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: "Every day!" — Aaron Copland Copy Share
Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of sub-consciousnessóI wouldnít know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness — Aaron Copland Copy Share
The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music. — Aaron Copland Copy Share
To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable. — Aaron Copland Copy Share
Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t. — Aaron Copland Copy Share
Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple. — Aaron Copland Copy Share
A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination. — Aaron Copland Copy Share
This whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer to that would be, “Yes.” And… — Aaron Copland Copy Share
Is there a meaning to music? Yes. Can you state in so many words what the meaning is? No. — Aaron Copland Copy Share
