Elliott Carter Quotes

Talking about a materialistic thing, I get about 13 times more royalties from Europe than I do from America.

My entire life has really revolved around music that was written about the time that I was born, 1908, to just before the First World War and shortly after it. This music I've always known, and it is that music that's most important to me.

Right at the end of the war I wrote a piano sonata, which was written at a time when Sam Barber used to come down here and we used to have lunch together in a very nice old hotel that's now not there.

Silences between movements are employed only in order to bring the opposing duo to the fore.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

The Quartets have been a major part of my work.

Well when I was young, when I was very young, when I was a little boy I don't remember the music I heard, but there was an article in the Brooklyn Daily written by my Aunt about how I could choose phonograph records.

Almost every one of my various zero numbered birthdays has had a big concert in London and often in Paris.

Yes, I get a report from BMI about the frequency of performances, and it is very surprising. They played one of my most advanced pieces, and one of my most unusual ones on the radio.

My musical life started with hearing and being fascinated by contemporary music.

When I was in Paris, all of the German refugees began to flow in and it was a very sad time.

The first thing that struck me about contemporary music in general had been thatthere was not much interest in rhythm.

That was one of the big problems when I was at Harvard studying music. We had to write choral pieces in the style of Brahms or Mendelssohn, which was distressing because in the end you realized how good Brahms is, and how bad you are.

Aaron Copland was a man that had a very specific point of view about what music should be which was that, he felt that new music should have the composer should show a personality in his music.

The Third Quartet I made the instruments in pairs - Two different pairs - Violin and viola, and violin and cello. They played very different things from each other all through the whole piece.

Why write for the orchestra? For one thing it's a very challenging problem.