Gian Carlo Menotti Professions : Composer Born : July 7, 1911 Died : February 1, 2007 Browse All Authors Top 30 quotes by Gian Carlo Menotti A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance. Gian Carlo Menotti ignorance wisdom wise Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding. Gian Carlo Menotti flower beauty art Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do. Gian Carlo Menotti accountability vision done Music is...a form of remembering, a return to the seasons of the heart long gone. Gian Carlo Menotti return heart long Waiting and hoping are the whole of life, and as soon as a dream is realized it is destroyed. Gian Carlo Menotti whole waiting dream Melody is a form of remembrance. It must have a quality of inevitability in our ears. Gian Carlo Menotti remembrance quality ears I know of no better definition of love than the one given by Proust - Love is space and time measured by the heart. Gian Carlo Menotti heart inspiring love Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out. Gian Carlo Menotti composer opera feels Love is born of faith, lives on hope, and dies of charity. Gian Carlo Menotti charity born love Love, which, in concert with Abstinence, established Faith, and which, along with Patience, builds up Chastity, is like the columns that sustain the four corners of a house. For it was that same Love which planted a glorious garden redolent with precious herbs and noble flowers-roses and lilies-which breathed forth a wondrous fragrance, that garden on which the true Solomon was accustomed to feast his eyes. Gian Carlo Menotti flower inspiring love I have always felt that art, especially music, is but a demonstration of God. Gian Carlo Menotti always music god art 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. Gian Carlo Menotti savage better pleasure way 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. Gian Carlo Menotti me you quality music I thought conceptual art was a joke. Gian Carlo Menotti joke thought conceptual-art art People ask me whether I'm religious. Well, in a certain way, I am. Gian Carlo Menotti i-am me people way I loathe my body. The liver spots, the sagging flesh. Gian Carlo Menotti liver spots body flesh One lived in the impression that nobody could ever compete with the 'Nutcracker' or 'A Christmas Carol.' Gian Carlo Menotti compete nobody impression christmas Writing beautiful melodies is not fashionable because it is very difficult to do. Gian Carlo Menotti because difficult writing beautiful God gives you the gift of melody or He doesn't - it's as simple as that. Gian Carlo Menotti gift you simple god I really don't think I have that much of the gift; I have a little bit, but I wish I were Schubert or Chopin or Beethoven, though Beethoven had a very difficult time writing melody, too. Gian Carlo Menotti gift think wish time Similar Authors Igor Stravinsky composer Irving Berlin composer Brian Ferneyhough composer Bryce Dessner composer Bradley Joseph composer Boudleaux Bryant composer All Authors
