My chief virtue (or if you like, defect) has been a tireless lifelong search for an original, individual musical idiom. I detest imitation, I detest hackneyed devices.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the value of originality and the rejection of imitation in artistic expression.
Sergei Prokofiev emphasizes the importance of striving for a unique and personal musical style throughout his life. He expresses a strong aversion to imitation and clichΓ©d methods, highlighting that true artistic integrity comes from individual creativity and the continuous search for one's own voice in music.
In practice
In a speech about innovation at a music festival.
In my view, the composer,_x000D_ just as the poet, the sculptor or the painter,_x000D_ is in duty bound to serve Man, the people._x000D_ He must beautify life and defend it._x000D_ He must be a citizen first and foremost,_x000D_ so that his art might consciously extol human life_x000D_ and lead man to a radiant future.
After the last line of a poem, nothing follows except literary criticism.
I'd rather be dead than singing "Satisfaction" when I'm forty-five.
The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
I think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time.
Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment.
But remember this, Japanese boy... airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.