What is American music? The most satisfying answer I've come across is that it was a kind of natural comfort with the vernacular which is diverse and regional; it's not one particular set of sounds. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
I was trying to do something that seemed very natural and easy but which bridged that gulf between the singing voice and the speaking voice. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
We think the Puritans always dressed in black and white, which they didn't. They loved very bright colors. And there were other differences in… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
Like any other composer of opera, I choose a subject not for polemical reasons, but because it contains vivid characters in highly charged dramatic… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
It's necessary to track characters all the way through an opera. If you're dealing with more than one or two characters, it's very easy… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
I was encouraged by my mother and, to a lesser extent, by my father. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
The artist is something of an outsider in America. I have always felt that America does not value its artists, certainly not in the… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
I think anything that is expressed directly and as honestly as possible will last. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
If I felt that one of my operas did not come off I would certainly say so. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
You can't possibly predict what will last or not. But once you attempt to write for the ages, you're doomed. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
Socially I never was an outsider. I have never thought of the conflict element before frankly, but perhaps it was wanting to belong, and… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
It's amazing how fast generations lose sight of other generations. One of the first things the young composers who come to work with me… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
I had all the normal interests - I played basketball and I headed the school paper. But I also developed very early a great… — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
I've never set out consciously to write American music. I don't know what that would be unless the obvious Appalachian folk references. — Carlisle Floyd Copy Share Image
