43 Thomas Beecham Quotes

Thomas Beecham quotes

1. Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.

2. Asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen, he said, 'No, but I once trod in some.'

3. Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.

4. A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it.

5. I found it as alluring as a wayward woman and determined to tame it.

6. The grand tune is the only thing in music that the great public really understands.

7. If I cannot sing a work, I cannot conduct it.

8. The musical equivalent of St. Pancras Station

9. A city life for me!

10. No composer has written as much as 100 bars of worthwhile music since 1925.

11. It is said that in one rehearsal he was unsatisfied with the performance of a female cello soloist, and so said to her 'Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it!'.

12. He helped Walter Legge underwrite the creation of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and conducted its premiere concert on 25 October, 1945. Later, Legge raised the matter of Beecham's fee, to which he replied: 'The privilege of directing this magnificent consort of artists is such that my pleasure would be diminished if I accepted a fee. I would, however, gladly accept a decent cigar'

13. 'Here are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.'

14. When asked why only male composers appeared in his repertoire, he said 'There are no women composers, never have been, and possibly never will be' (however he later revised this view, and became a champion of Ethel Smyth's music)

15. He described the sound of the harpsichord variously as

16. Of Beethoven - 'Beethoven's last quartets were written by a deaf man and should only be listened to by a deaf man'

17. On Beethoven's Seventh Symphony: 'What can you do with it? It's like a lot of yaks jumping about.'

18. 'Try everything once except folk dancing and incest'. (This is also attributed to Sir Arnold Bax, George S. Kaufman, Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill.)

19. 'Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away'.

20. 'I have just been all round the world and have formed a very poor opinion of it'.

21. After conducting an orchestra through a piece of music - 'Bass Trombone, you are out of tune.' [a voice comes from the orchestra saying] 'Sir, the bass trombonist hasn't arrived yet.' [To which Beecham replied] 'Oh... well when he arrives, tell him he's out of tune.'

22. On a grave stone is written: 'Here lies a fantastic organist and an excellent musician.' [Beecham then comments...] 'What, both in the same grave?'

23. It is quite untrue that British people don't appreciate music. They may not understand it but they absolutely love the noise it makes.

24. In the first movement alone, I took note of six pregnancies and at least four miscarriages.

1. As you'll never hear the thing again, my boy, why not throw in a couple of brass bands?

2. Without question the most unpopular medium of musical sound in the world.

3. The sound of the harpsichord resembles that of a bird-cage played with toasting-forks.

4. Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.

5. No woman is worth the loss of a night's sleep.

6. I prefer Offenbach to Bach often.

7. Have you heard any Stockhausen?" Beecham was asked. "No, but I believe I have stepped in some.

8. If she is attractive, I can't perform with her; if she is not, then I won't.

9. All the arts in America are a gigantic racket run by unscrupulous men for unhealthy women.

10. No operatic star has yet died soon enough for me.

11. Elgar's first symphony is the musical equivalent of St Pancras Railway Station.

12. If I were a dictator I should make it compulsory for every member of the population between the ages of four and eighty to listen to Mozart for at least a quarter of an hour daily for the coming five years.

13. Movie music is noise... even more painful than my sciatica.

14. The British like any kind of music so long as it is loud.

15. They are quite hopeless - drooling, driveling, doleful, depressing, dropsical drips.

16. Movie music is noise. It's even more painful than my sciatica.

17. A soprano in Massenet's Don Quixote complained that she had missed her entry in the aria, "because Mr. Challiapin always dies too soon." "Madam, you must be profoundly in error," said Sir Thomas, "No operatic star has yet died half soon enough for me."

18. If an opera cannot be played by an organ grinder, it's not going to achieve immortality.

19. When asked whether he minded if someone smoked in a non-smoking compartment. Certainly not if you don't object if I'm sick.