Thomas Beecham quotes

A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it. (Thomas Beecham)
Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.
Thomas Beecham
What can you do with it? It's like a lot of yaks jumping about.
Thomas Beecham
Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away.
Thomas Beecham
The grand tune is the only thing in music that the great public really understands.
Thomas Beecham
The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.
Thomas Beecham
Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.
Thomas Beecham
The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.
Thomas Beecham
I found it as alluring as a wayward woman and determined to tame it.
Thomas Beecham
The musical equivalent of the towers of St Pancras Station.
Thomas Beecham
Asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen, he said, "No, but I once trod in some." (Thomas Beecham)
If I cannot sing a work, I cannot conduct it.
Thomas Beecham
No composer has written as much as 100 bars of worthwhile music since 1925.
Thomas Beecham
A city life for me!
Thomas Beecham
There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
Thomas Beecham
Movie music is noise. It's even more painful than my sciatica.
Thomas Beecham
Composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle.
Thomas Beecham
I have just been all round the world and have formed a very poor opinion of it.
Thomas Beecham
All the arts in America are a gigantic racket run by unscrupulous men for unhealthy women.
Thomas Beecham
No operatic star has yet died soon enough for me.
Thomas Beecham