People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Iris MurdochRead
The artist who does not feel completely satisfied by elegant lines, by harmonious colors, and by a beautiful succession of chords does not understand the art of music.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the essential elements of music as an art form, emphasizing the importance of aesthetic appreciation.
Camille Saint-Saens suggests that true understanding of music goes beyond technical skills; it involves an emotional and aesthetic appreciation of beauty, whether in melodies, harmonies, or the interplay of colors and lines in musical expression. An artist must feel a profound satisfaction from these elements to grasp the essence of music as an art form.
In practice
During a lecture on art appreciation, I referenced this quote to emphasize the importance of emotional connection in music.
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Any magazine-cover hack can splash paint around wildly and call it a nightmare, or a witches sabbath or a portrait of the devil; but only a great painter can make such a thing really scare or ring true. That's because only a real artist knows the anatomy of the terrible, or the physiology of fear.
Some of the most intense affairs are between actors and characters. There's a fire in the human heart and we jump into it with the same obsession as we have with our lovers.
There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.
The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.
An incinerator is a writer's best friend.
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