Music Theory Quotes

“Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven

“[If] it were possible to watch composing in the same way that one can watch painting, if composers could have _ateliers_ as did painters, then it would be clear how superfluous the music theorist is and how he is just as harmful as the art academies.”
― Arnold Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony

“My teacher, Ben Johnston, was convinced that our tuning is responsible for much of our cultural psychology, the fact that we are so geared toward progress and action and violence and so little attuned to introspection, contentment, and acquiescence. Equal temperament could be described as the musical equivalent to eating a lot of red meat and processed sugars and watching violent action films. The music doesn't turn your attention inward, it makes you want to go out and work off your nervous energy on something.”
― Kyle Gann

“Theory is a six-letter dirty word to most musicians, but hey, musicians love dirty words, right? And just like all the other dirty words, theory is easy to learn and fun to use!”
― Ray Harmony, Hack Music Theory, Part 1: Learn Scales & Chords in 30 minutes

“Music, being identical with heaven, isn't a thing of momentary thrills, or even hourly ones. It's a condition of eternity.”
― Gustav Holst, Gustav Holst, letters to W. G. Whittaker

“Music is the outward and audible signification of inward and spiritual realities.”
― Peter Warlock, Saudades / Peter Warlock. 1923 [Leather Bound]