A Melody Is Not Merely Something You

A Great Symphony Is A Man-made Mississippi Down Which We Irresistibly Flow From The Instant Of Our Leave-taking To A Long Forseen Destination.

There Is Something About Music That Keeps Its Distance Even At The Moment That It Engulfs Us. It Is At The Same Time Outside And Away From Us And Inside And Part Of Us. In One Sense It Dwarfs Us, And In Another We Master It. We Are Led On And On, And Yet In Some Strange Way We Never Lose Control.

The Inspired Moment May Sometimes Be Described As A Kind Of Hallucinatory State Of Mind: One Half Of The Personality Emotes And Dictates While The Other Half Listens And Notates. The Half That Listens Has Better Look The Other Way, Had Better Simulate A Half Attention Only, For The Half That Dictates Is Easily Disgruntled And Avenges Itself For Too Close Inspection By Fading Entirely Away.

Arthur V. Berger Commenting On The Music Of Aaron Copland: Here Is At Last An American That We May Place Unapologetically Beside The Great Recognized Creative Figures Of Any Other Country.

If A Literary Man Puts Together Two Words About Music, One Of Them Will Be Wrong.