I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I meant.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The creator values intent over audience reception; meaning exists if it matched the aim.
- In plain terms
- Intent matters more than whether the audience likes the work.
- What can you take from it?
- Intent validates a work regardless of audience approval.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does intent justify art?
- Whose judgment counts?
Another view
Art often exists to communicate, so audience reception still matters.
More from Ralph Vaughan Williams
The business of finding a nation's soul is a long and slow one at the best and a great many prophets must be slain in the course of it. Perhaps when we have sl…
Permalink to quote #5 The audience is requested not to refrain from talking during the overture. Otherwise they will know all the tunes before the opera begins.
Permalink to quote #7 The art of music above all the other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation.
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