Virtuosity Quotes

“People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly.”
― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea

“Bend the rules only if you have learned them; break the rules only if you have mastered them.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“No tricks, no tools, but talent makes a task truly top class.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“We live in a time where the Ring of Gyges could represent “power,” and how we use such power is reflected by our action and choices. Do we have a moral compass? Are we capable of anything or subject to being corrupted by absolute power? The old saying absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think the answer, in my humble opinion, is that with great power comes great responsibility. I would go further and say such influence and power used in the correct way, to ultimately help others or change the world for the better, is a positive possibility. The person who is truly content, resourceful and adaptive would not need such a lever to succeed as well. Although if money or power gives us access to more opportunities for travel, or work, or education for Lexivists who are focused on obtaining knowledge and positive activity which all is done in a way that is moderated rather than taken to an extreme of being corrupted, or being excessive. The choice is ours and how we act reflects our capacity to be virtuous, to continue to better ourselves as human beings and Lexivists.”
― Alexander Lloyd Curran, Introduction to Lexivism

“The brilliant execution which they presuppose in the performer has a double function: it restricts the practice of music to the expert, and it deludes the layman. In the case of the virtuoso-composers, the prototype of whom is Paganini; the dazzling style is intended above all to flabbergast the listener, but with the real masters the technical difficulty is merely the expression of an inner difficulty and complication. Both tendencies, the enlargement of the distance between the amateur and the virtuoso as well as the deepening of the gulf between lighter and more difficult music, lead to the dissolution of the classical genres. The virtuoso mode of writing inevitably atomizes the big, massive forms; the bravura piece is relatively short, sparkling, pointed. But the intrinsically difficult, individually differentiated style, based on the sublimation of thoughts and feelings, also promotes the dissolution of universally valid, stereotyped and long-winded forms.”
― Arnold Hauser, The Social History of Art Volume 3: Rococo, Classicism and Romanticism

“Her playing which had been superb became merely correct. It was necessary to suggest a certain sloppiness, the playing of something that hadn't been written. Computer-made music-synthesized Blue Moon- presented same problem. Random elements introduced.”
― John Cage, A Year from Monday: New Lectures and Writings

“The virtuoso isn't always the one who has his métier down to a fine art but the one who lives for it.”
― Dahi Tamara Koch, Within the event horizon: poetry & prose

“in music, I have always been
different from my inner being –
feeling free and living aloud
it had been my hidden truth”
― Dahi Tamara Koch, Within the event horizon: poetry & prose