Classic music is the kind that we keep thinkin’ll turn into a tune. Frank McKinney Hubbard
The artist will move future generations when the bones of kings have long since mouldered away. Franz Alexander von Kleist, Dresden, 1792
In you come with your cold music till I creep
through every pour. Robert Browning, A Toccata of Galuppi’s
It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music. Frederick Delius
No artist should ever marry ... if ever you do have to marry, marry a girl who is more in love with your art than with you. Frederick Delius
What passion cannot Music raise and quell? John Dryden
The delusive seduction of martial music. Fanny Burney, English novelist & diarist
The hills are alive with the sound of music,
With songs they have sung for a thousand years.
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music,
My heart wants to sing ev’ry song it hears. Oscar Hammerstein, The Sound of Music 1959
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.
So bye bye, Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys was drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, This’ll be the day that I die.
This’ll be the day that I die. Don McLean, American Pie, 1972, re death of Buddy Holly
Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie. John Milton, Arcades, 1645
Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of heaven’s joy,
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice, and Verse. John Milton, At a Solemn Music, 1645
Where the bright seraphim in burning row
Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow. ibid.
Sergeant Pepper – a decisive moment in the history of Western Civilisation. Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic
Music is spiritual. The music business is not. Van Morrison, cited The Times 6th July 1990
My music is best understood by children and animals. Igor Stravinsky, cited Observer 8th October 1961
First of all, the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So black people need to get the credit for that. Carlos Santana
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, ‘Is there a meaning to music?’ My answer to that would be, ‘Yes.’ And, ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?’ My answer to that would be, ‘No.’ Aaron Copland
Seated one day at the organ,
I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys. Adelaide Anne Procter, A Lost Chord
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen. ibid.
It may be that Death’s bright Angel
Will speak in that chord again
It may be that only in Heaven
I shall hear that grand Amen. ibid.
When the whole world is bored with automated mass-distributed video music our descendants will despise us for having thrown away the best of our culture. Alan Lomax
Before Elvis there was nothing. John Lennon
Northern soul will touch your soul. Fran Franklin, 1961-2014
Where would we be without good music? Here. Les Dawson, on stage
Bartok. Real foot-tapping stuff, eh. Karaoke for the neurotic. Rab C Nesbitt s5e1: Affair, BBC 1996
What is that you’re giving us now? Concerto in E by Dynorod? Rab C Nesbitt s8e3: Commons, girl to Rab, BBC 1999
I had to join karaoke anonymous. Rab C Nesbitt s8e7: Trips, Hugh
New York, New York. San Francisco. This is what I’ve missed. Chicago, Ella – the old Scots’ song. ibid.
When Orpheus went down to the regions below,
Which men are forbidden to see,
He tuned up his lyre, as old histories show,
To set his Eurydice free ... Thomas Lisle, The Power of Music, 1709–1767
Music has charms to sooth a savage breast. William Congreve, 1670-1729, The Double Dealer
Satan loves to hide in music where parents have a difficult time protecting their children. Dr Herald Timmons, Landover University
An entire nation has been seduced by these songs. Tom Friend, author Fallen Angel
My music is spiritual. Tupac Shakur
Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour. Gioacchino Rossini, 1867
Music is essentially useless, as life is: but both have an ideal extension which lends utility to its conditions. George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
The whole trouble with a folk song is that once you have played it through there is nothing much you can do except play it over again and play it rather louder. Constant Lambert, Music Ho! 1934
A raucous form of working-class entertainment was forcing its way into the heart of British cities. It’s hard to imagine the sight and sounds and smells of the old Music Hall. The stench of unwashed bodies and dirty clothes. The air thick with tobacco smoke from the pipes and the cigars that all the men would be smoking. A lot of the audience would be drinking quite heavily. And eating during the acts ... But Britain had talent. Music Hall was the popular tele of its day. Its songs the chart toppers, its acts the pop stars. And the biggest star of all was Marie Lloyd. Andrew Marr’s Making of Modern Britain, BBC 2009
The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides! Artur Schnabel, Austrian-born pianist, Chicago Daily News 11th June 1958
Too easy for children, and too difficult for artists. Artur Schnabel, re Mozart’s sonatas
You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you’ve got music. Sid Vicious
We are better than anyone, ain’t we? Except for The Eagles. The Eagles are better than us. Sid Vicious
Music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good, and good provoke to harm. William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure IV i 16
How sour sweet music is,
When time is broke, and no proportion kept!
So it is in the music of men’s lives. William Shakespeare, Richard II V v 42
I am never merry when I hear sweet music. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice V i 69
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. ibid. V i 79
If music be the food of love, play on. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I i 1, Orsino
… and the general so likes your music that he desires you, for love’s sake, to make no more noise with it. William Shakespeare, Othello III I 11-13, Clown
If you have any music that may not be heard, to’t again. ibid. III I 15-16