Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency---half tiger,half poet.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the duality of the violinist, combining the ferocity of a tiger with the sensitivity of a poet.
Yehudi Menuhin's quote captures the essence of a violinist's artistry, illustrating the balance between raw passion and emotional depth. It suggests that a great musician embodies both the fierce determination and intensity of a tiger, as well as the delicate expressiveness and creativity of a poet, demonstrating the complexity of human expression in music.
Themes
ViolinistArtistryMusicEmotionDuality
In practice
Example use cases
At a concert, one might reflect on how the violinist embodies both strength and vulnerability.
More from Yehudi Menuhin
All quotes βMusic lives and breathes to tell us who we are and what we face. It is a path between ourselves and the infinite.
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The practice of yoga induces a primary sense of measure and proportion. Reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance and harmony.
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Improvisation is not the expression of accident but rather of the accumulated yearnings, dreams and wisdom of our very soul.
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We are living in a world where the individual must learn to command the raw materials of expression. He must not be dependent all the time on the ready-made, the finished product. It's the transferring, the changing of the raw into what is the expression of your own self β the whole joy and satisfaction and frustration of life is built into this.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
It is music that welds spiritual and sensual, that can convey ecstasy free of guilt, faith without dogma, love as homage, and a person at home with nature and the infinite.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
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