You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today. — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
You may feel depressed, but it can't be so depressing that you can't move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression! — 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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: "Every day!" — Aaron Copland Copy Share Image
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 Image
The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music. — 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
Composers tend to assume that everyone loves music. Surprisingly enough, everyone doesn’t. — 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
