I think anything that is expressed directly and as honestly as possible will last.

You can't possibly predict what will last or not. But once you attempt to write for the ages, you're doomed.

I found a certain kind of music congenial to me; it never occurred to me to write music that was academically acceptable.

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 say is that they want to write music people will like, instead of gaining their credentials by being rejected by the audience.

America tends to worship the modest talent because it doesn't put us in an uncomfortable position vis-a-vis the artist.

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

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 to forget that the others have lives of their own that feed into the story.