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
want tricks
The trick is to compose what one wants to compose and to get it commissioned afterward.
pieces music-is comment
The one true comment on a piece of music is another piece of music.
long may kindles
Money may kindle, but it cannot by itself, and for very long, burn.
simple artist people
I was...attacked for being a pasticheur, chided for composing "simple" music, blamed for deserting "modernism," accused of renouncing my "true Russian heritage." People who had never heard of, or cared about, the originals cried "sacrilege": "The classics are ours. Leave the classics alone." To them all my answer was and is the same: You "respect," but I love.
dream criticism goya
I had another dream the other day about music critics. They were small and rodent-like with padlocked ears, as if they had stepped out of a painting by Goya.
childhood waiting moments
My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send everyone and everything connected with it to hell.
mean wheels revolution
Revolution means turning the wheel.
duty
We have a duty towards music, namely, to invent it.
mediocrity genius stealing
Mediocrity borrows, genius steals.
self execution precision
The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution.
long age pressure
Old age is a time of humiliations, the most disagreeable of which, for me, is that I cannot work long at sustained high pressure with no leaks in concentration.
frozen improvisation composition
Composition is frozen improvisation.
silence shame fame
Silence, which will save from shame, will also deprive me of fame.
christian distance church
The further one separates himself from the precepts of the Christian Church, the further one distances himself from the truth. Only God can create. I make music from music.