Michael Tippett quotes

Michael Tippett was an influential English composer known for his innovative and expressive musical style. His works often addressed humanitarian themes and blended diverse musical influences. He became one of the most significant British composers of the twentieth century. Here are 22 of his quotes:

Music is a performance and needs the audience. (Michael Tippett)
I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being. View quote
Michael Tippett
Nature has different times. View quote
Michael Tippett
The Greek sculptor - I don't think he was very different from any of us. View quote
Michael Tippett
Music remains the most strange of the materials because we don't understand what happens when music moves you. View quote
Michael Tippett
Poetry is fascinating. As soon as it begins the poetry has changed the thing into something extra, and somehow prose can go over into poetry. View quote
Michael Tippett
Shakespeare fascinated me. He hardly ever left the country. His imagination was worldwide though reading. View quote
Michael Tippett
I've seldom become nostalgic or settled. View quote
Michael Tippett
When we use terms we get confused, yet we have no other way. View quote
Michael Tippett
I remain a humanist. We are a very curious race. View quote
Michael Tippett
Beethoven suppressed everything, his personal life disappeared until he was locked inside. That is a figure quite extreme. (Michael Tippett)
My true function within a society which embraces all of us is to continue an age-old tradition. This tradition is to create images from the depths of the imagination and to give them form, whether visual, intellectual or musical. View quote
Michael Tippett
Public notice does not necessarily accord with internal fulfilment. View quote
Michael Tippett
The blues are like the fugue in 18th century. It's probably the music that belongs most to our time. View quote
Michael Tippett
The nearest figure to myself would be Shakespeare. View quote
Michael Tippett
I'm outside the music I've made. I have no interest in it. View quote
Michael Tippett
Shiva danced the world into existence... that's a very nice thought. View quote
Michael Tippett
I think we're all pretty odd. View quote
Michael Tippett
Music is a performing art, as any Native American will tell you. It isn't there in the score. View quote
Michael Tippett
Conductors don't suffer, they are part of the performance. View quote
Michael Tippett
Characters are an extreme form in Shakespeare's theater. (Michael Tippett)
This is something special. You can attempt to have a kind of non-living music. View quote
Michael Tippett

Michael Tippett

Occupation: English Composer
Born: January 2, 1905
Died: January 8, 1998
Quotes count: 22