Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
Work is what you do for others, liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the distinction between work done for the benefit of others and art created for personal fulfillment.
Stephen Sondheim emphasizes that work often involves responsibilities and obligations to others, whereas art is a deeply personal expression that serves the artist's own feelings, thoughts, and desires. This distinction prompts individuals to reflect on their motivations and the value of self-expression in their lives.
In practice
During an art exhibit, one could quote this to emphasize the personal nature of artistic expression.
Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
Let Pirelli's / Miracle Elixir / Activate your roots, sir... Keep it off your boots, sir- / Eats right through. Yes, get Pirelli's! / Use a bottle of it! / Ladies seem to love it... Flies do, too!
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell.
It is not a torment to be an artist. It is a privilege.
When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.
What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It's not what you see that is art; art is the gap.
If we doubt the power of literature and art to civilise, how come no one has ever been mugged by a person carrying a well-thumbed copy of 'Middlemarch' in his back pocket?
If there is such a thing for Sparks as a mission statement, it's more general in that we want each new album to be musically and lyrically provocative. We want to really go at it as though this might be the first album that anyone will ever hear of Sparks.
There was always a part of me that wanted to be an old-time director. But I couldn't do that. I'm not a pro.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.