Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinskywas a Russian-French-American composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth17 June 1882
CityLomonosov, Russia
CountryRussian Federation
Igor Stravinsky quotes about
funny music witty
Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.
creating hands faculty
The faculty of creating is never given to us all by itself. It always goes hand in hand with the gift of observation.
needs would-be music-is
I never understood the need for a "live" audience. My music, because of its extreme quietude, would be happiest with a dead one.
tuning tunes harps
Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune.
music ducks effort
To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also.
inspirational music opportunity
I know that the twelve notes in each octave and the variety of rhythm offer me opportunities that all of human genius will never exhaust.
claims snob familiar
A cultural snob is someone who claims to be familiar with the incomprehensible.
path
To continue in one path is to go backward.
religious exercise years
I cannot now evaluate the events that, at the end of those thirty years, made me discover the necessity of religious belief. I was not reasoned into my disposition. Though I admire the structured thought of theology, it is to religion no more than counterpoint exercises are to music.
children animal classical-music
My music is best understood by children and animals.
music men order
Music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between man and time.
improvisation composition selective
Composition is selective improvisation.
real thinking awareness
The real composer thinks about his work the whole time; he is not always conscious of this, but he is aware of it later when he suddenly knows what he will do.
starting-over becoming principles
The principle of the endless melody is the perpetual becoming of a music that never had any reason for starting, any more than it has any reason for ending.