Melody Quotes by Toru Takemitsu

The art music of the West has developed through out its history by means of individual geniuses, and out of the soil supporting them;…

— Toru Takemitsu

I am a gardener of infinite time.

— Toru Takemitsu

I probably belong to a type of composer of songs who keeps thinking about melody... I am old fashioned.

— Toru Takemitsu

Music should be able to invoke the natural emotions in all human beings. Music is not notes fixed on apiece of paper.

— Toru Takemitsu

Composition gives proper meaning to the natural streams of sound that penetrate the world.

— Toru Takemitsu

My teachers are Duke Ellington and nature.

— Toru Takemitsu

Music is a form of prayer.

— Toru Takemitsu

“Many contemporary composers have been building walls of sounds following their own clever devices. But then, who lives inside those rooms?”

— Toru Takemitsu

Although I am basically self taught, I consider Debussy my teacher - the most important elements are colour, light and shadow.

— Toru Takemitsu

“...by admitting a new perception of space and giving it an active sense, is it not possible to discover a new unexpected, unexplored world?”

— toru takemitsu

I always want to write erotic music... Not only about the love between men and women, but in a much more universal sense -…

— Toru Takemitsu