Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menottiwas an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, along with over two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth7 July 1911
CountryItaly
content life memories music simplify
I have a heart problem, so I have to simplify my life and be content with memories and friends and music.
liver loathe
I loathe my body. The liver spots, the sagging flesh.
art felt god music
I have always felt that art, especially music, is but a demonstration of God.
score
I can sit on a chair with a score and give myself a wonderful performance.
gives god melody
God gives you the gift of melody or He doesn't - it's as simple as that.
melodies
Writing beautiful melodies is not fashionable because it is very difficult to do.
beauty chord divinity incredible music opening schubert
A Schubert song, the A-major chord at the opening of Wagner's 'Lohengrin' - such incredible beauty is a mystery, the divinity of music.
christmas compete nobody
One lived in the impression that nobody could ever compete with the 'Nutcracker' or 'A Christmas Carol.'
dared modest nobility rediscover
For better or for worse, in 'The Last Savage,' I have dared to do away completely with fashionable dissonance, and in a modest way, I have endeavored to rediscover the nobility of gracefulness and the pleasure of sweetness.
composers love
My advice to composers is, 'Try to reach 90, and everyone will love you.'
asks watch
At the premieres, I always watch the audience. If a child asks to go to the bathroom, I know I've failed.
artist dig god greeks stay travel
The Greeks said the artist doesn't actually have to travel and look around. You stay where God has put you, and you dig as deep as you can. This is what I've done.
harder life suffer worked
I should have worked harder in my life. I suffer from a guilt complex.
beethoven call human interests mozart music noblest note wonderful
The only thing that interests me in music is to be able to reach into the, let's call it, 'collective unconscious' of what is noblest in the human spirit, the way you find in the music of Mozart and Beethoven and Verdi that wonderful quality that not a note can be changed.