I've never set out consciously to write American music. I don't know what that would be unless the obvious Appalachian folk references.

When I've seen my operas in Europe, they have always struck me as more American than when I hear them here. I can't tell you what that phenomenon is.

The artist is something of an outsider in America. I have always felt that America does not value its artists, certainly not in the sense that the Europeans do.

Our most intimate contact with civilizations long since dust has been through the art which has survived them.

Most of the important composers in our country are clustered in the Northeast.

If I felt that one of my operas did not come off I would certainly say so.

The story of Willie Stark fascinated me because it was tackling the story of a man who outwardly has all the success one could possibly want and who is destroyed by his personal demons.