Music remains the most strange of the materials because we don’t understand what happens when music moves you.

About Michael Tippett

Sir Michael Kemp Tippett was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of the leading British composers of the 20th century.

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More quotes from Michael Tippett

Music remains the most strange of the materials because we don’t understand what happens when music moves you.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

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.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

The Greek sculptor – I don’t think he was very different from any of us.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

I remain a humanist. We are a very curious race.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

When we use terms we get confused, yet we have no other way.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Beethoven suppressed everything, his personal life disappeared until he was locked inside. That is a figure quite extreme.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

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.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

I think we’re all pretty odd.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Nature has different times.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Characters are an extreme form in Shakespeare’s theater.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

The nearest figure to myself would be Shakespeare.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Shiva danced the world into existence… that’s a very nice thought.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Public notice does not necessarily accord with internal fulfilment.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

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.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Conductors don’t suffer, they are part of the performance.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Shakespeare fascinated me. He hardly ever left the country. His imagination was worldwide though reading.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

I’ve seldom become nostalgic or settled.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

Music is a performing art, as any Native American will tell you. It isn’t there in the score.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

This is something special. You can attempt to have a kind of non-living music.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

The blues are like the fugue in 18th century. It’s probably the music that belongs most to our time.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)

I’m outside the music I’ve made. I have no interest in it.

Michael Tippett

English composer (1905-1996)