--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think music has gone through a period…" description: "\"I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.\" — Harrison Birtwistle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png" --- # I think music has gone through a period of something very… ![“I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.” quote by Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png) > “I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.” [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The composer compares contemporary music’s radical shift to the transformative impact cubism had on painting, suggesting a deep, structural change in artistic expression. **In simple terms:** Music is undergoing a radical, cubist‑like transformation. Key Takeaway Embrace and explore new musical directions. Themes art music innovation modernism cubism transformation Mood analytical creative Type critical historical When to use this quote - concert programming - music education - art criticism - creative collaboration Key Concepts aesthetic theory cultural evolution creative disruption Questions to Reflect On - How does this musical shift affect your listening habits? - What parallels exist between visual and auditory revolutions? A Different Perspective Not all listeners may appreciate or understand such drastic changes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cubism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cubism/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Radical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radical/) ## Related quotes > [The passion and spontaneity in music is all gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-hammer/the-passion-and-spontaneity-in-music-is-all-gone/) [Jan Hammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-hammer/) > [I met people that I couldn't talk to - they didn't speak Spanish or English - but they knew my songs. That's what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prince-royce/i-met-people-that-i-couldn-t-talk-to-they-didn-t-speak-spanish-or/) [Prince Royce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prince-royce/) > [“Music has gone the way of food. People want it fast and cheap and they don’t care what it tastes like or where it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yvonne-prinz/music-has-gone-the-way-of-food-people-want-it-fast-and-cheap-and-they/) [Yvonne Prinz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yvonne-prinz/) > [I think the popular music has gone truly weird. It's either cutesy-wutesy or it's hard, nasty stuff. It's good that this has life again…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-harrison/i-think-the-popular-music-has-gone-truly-weird-it-s-either-cutesy/) [George Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-harrison/) > [The thing about doing gigs is you make music, and then it is gone and that is being watched by thousands of people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-melua/the-thing-about-doing-gigs-is-you-make-music-and-then-it-is-gone-and/) [Katie Melua](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-melua/) > [When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-dolphy/when-you-hear-music-after-it-s-over-it-s-gone-in-the-air-you-can/) Eric Dolphy > [This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/this-sounds-horribly-pretentious-but-i-like-to-think-that-if-music/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [Futurism and Cubism are comparable in importance to the invention of perspective, for which they substituted a new concept of space. All subsequent movements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gino-severini/futurism-and-cubism-are-comparable-in-importance-to-the-invention-of/) [Gino Severini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gino-severini/) > [Maybe Cubism started this way. Memory re-arranging a face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-rakow/maybe-cubism-started-this-way-memory-re-arranging-a-face/) Mary Rakow > [Cubism was an attack on the perspective that had been known and used for 500 years. It was the first big, big change. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/cubism-was-an-attack-on-the-perspective-that-had-been-known-and-used/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [Cubism is the art of depicting new wholes with formal elements borrowed not only from the reality of vision, but from that of conception.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-apollinaire/cubism-is-the-art-of-depicting-new-wholes-with-formal-elements/) [Guillaume Apollinaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-apollinaire/) > [The fact that for a long time Cubism has not been understood and that even today there are people who cannot see anything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-fact-that-for-a-long-time-cubism-has-not-been-understood-and-that/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Most people don't do something seminal. I've done it twice: with my tent and my bed. Picasso did it with Cubism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-emin/most-people-don-t-do-something-seminal-i-ve-done-it-twice-with-my/) [Tracey Emin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-emin/) > [The goal I proposed myself in making cubism? To paint and nothing more... with a method linked only to my thought... Neither the good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-goal-i-proposed-myself-in-making-cubism-to-paint-and-nothing-more/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [In the early days the Cubism' method of grasping an object was to go round and round it. The Futurists declared that one had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gino-severini/in-the-early-days-the-cubism-method-of-grasping-an-object-was-to-go/) [Gino Severini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gino-severini/) ## More by Harrison Birtwistle > [I don't have ideas so much as there are things which constantly evolve... there are various threads or layers, if you like, which change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-don-t-have-ideas-so-much-as-there-are-things-which-constantly/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [I didn't have a record player.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-didn-t-have-a-record-player/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/the-thing-about-influence-is-that-any-composer-worth-anything-will/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [I always write the pieces I want to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-always-write-the-pieces-i-want-to-write/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/minimalism-now-is-a-reaction-to-what-came-before-it-s-absolutely-of/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [I think there are influences that you open the door to, and influences that come under the door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-think-there-are-influences-that-you-open-the-door-to-and-influences/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [I wrote music as soon as I knew notation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-wrote-music-as-soon-as-i-knew-notation/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/the-opera-tells-the-story-with-all-the-built-in-contradictions-and/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [I'm not a music lover in the sense that I look for something to have on. I've never had that attitude to music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-m-not-a-music-lover-in-the-sense-that-i-look-for-something-to-have/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/the-piece-that-had-a-large-influence-on-me-was-turangalila/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [There are rhythmic ideas which sometimes only work up to a point. In writing there are moments when it just comes off the page,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/there-are-rhythmic-ideas-which-sometimes-only-work-up-to-a-point-in/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/the-theatre-only-knows-what-it-s-doing-next-week-not-like-the-opera/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/this-sounds-horribly-pretentious-but-i-like-to-think-that-if-music/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [When I was confronted with official tuition, the academic thing, I could see no relationship whatever between that and the music I'd been writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/when-i-was-confronted-with-official-tuition-the-academic-thing-i/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) > [You either are or you're not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/you-either-are-or-you-re-not/) [Harrison Birtwistle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) [Explore all 29 Harrison Birtwistle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/) ## More Cubism quotes > [In the early days the Cubism' method of grasping an object was to go round and round it. The Futurists declared that one had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gino-severini/in-the-early-days-the-cubism-method-of-grasping-an-object-was-to-go/) [Gino Severini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gino-severini/) > [The goal I proposed myself in making cubism? To paint and nothing more... with a method linked only to my thought... Neither the good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-goal-i-proposed-myself-in-making-cubism-to-paint-and-nothing-more/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Most people don't do something seminal. I've done it twice: with my tent and my bed. Picasso did it with Cubism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-emin/most-people-don-t-do-something-seminal-i-ve-done-it-twice-with-my/) [Tracey Emin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-emin/) > [The fact that for a long time Cubism has not been understood and that even today there are people who cannot see anything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/the-fact-that-for-a-long-time-cubism-has-not-been-understood-and-that/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Cubism is the art of depicting new wholes with formal elements borrowed not only from the reality of vision, but from that of conception.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillaume-apollinaire/cubism-is-the-art-of-depicting-new-wholes-with-formal-elements/) [Guillaume Apollinaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillaume-apollinaire/) > [Cubism was an attack on the perspective that had been known and used for 500 years. It was the first big, big change. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/cubism-was-an-attack-on-the-perspective-that-had-been-known-and-used/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [Maybe Cubism started this way. Memory re-arranging a face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-rakow/maybe-cubism-started-this-way-memory-re-arranging-a-face/) Mary Rakow > [Futurism and Cubism are comparable in importance to the invention of perspective, for which they substituted a new concept of space. All subsequent movements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gino-severini/futurism-and-cubism-are-comparable-in-importance-to-the-invention-of/) [Gino Severini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gino-severini/) > [What greatly attracted me - and it was the main line of advance of Cubism - was how to give material expression to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/what-greatly-attracted-me-and-it-was-the-main-line-of-advance-of/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [Raising a child is a little like Picasso's work; in the beginning he did very conventional representational things. Cubism came after he had the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/raising-a-child-is-a-little-like-picasso-s-work-in-the-beginning-he/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [No academy could have given me all I discovered by getting my teeth into the exhibitions, the shop windows, and the museums of Paris…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-chagall/no-academy-could-have-given-me-all-i-discovered-by-getting-my-teeth/) [Marc Chagall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-chagall/) > [Cubism is like standing at a certain point on a mountain and looking around. If you go higher, things will look different; if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lipchitz/cubism-is-like-standing-at-a-certain-point-on-a-mountain-and-looking/) [Jacques Lipchitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lipchitz/) > [The activities of these parasites and degenerates gave rise to Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, Pointillism, Constructivism, Orphism, Surrealism, Dada, and also Impossibleism, Supersurrealism, Dynamic Double-Dog…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinkwater/the-activities-of-these-parasites-and-degenerates-gave-rise-to-cubism/) [Daniel Pinkwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinkwater/) > [When we discovered cubism, we did not have the aim of discovering cubism. We only wanted to express what was in us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/when-we-discovered-cubism-we-did-not-have-the-aim-of-discovering/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Until cubism, all art, all pictures, could be 'read' by anybody. If this hadn't been so, the Christian message wouldn't have been seen by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/until-cubism-all-art-all-pictures-could-be-read-by-anybody-if-this/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) [Browse all 50 Cubism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cubism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Harrison Birtwistle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period-of-something-very-severe/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cubism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period-of-something-very-severe/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bd/harrison-birtwistle-21154_cubism_i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period_1046204.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting…” — Harrison Birtwistle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Harrison Birtwistle", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-birtwistle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I think music has gone through...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period-of-something-very-severe/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-birtwistle/i-think-music-has-gone-through-a-period-of-something-very-severe/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```