Elliott Carter Quotes

Elliott Carter — American Composer born on December 11, 1908,

Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. was an American composer who was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, then returned to the United States. After an early neoclassical phase, his style shifted to an emphasis on atonality and rhythmic complexity. His compositions are known and performed throughout the world; they include orchestral, chamber music, solo instrumental, and vocal works... (wikipedia)

The Third Quartet I made the instruments in pairs - Two different pairs - Violin and viola, and violin and cello. They played very different things from each other all through the whole piece.

Silences between movements are employed only in order to bring the opposing duo to the fore.

In any case, Ives encouraged me to go into music even though he himself had such a hard time being a composer.

Talking about a materialistic thing, I get about 13 times more royalties from Europe than I do from America.

The Quartets have been a major part of my work.