There´s a list of quotes from Tchaikovsky. I had gone searching for it, because of a remembered line of his:
“I sit down to the piano regularly at nine-o'clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous.”
Ah, the Muses. They are children, really, and their mother (you remember Mnemosyne from page 15 Discursive Asides of course) is a busy woman. Not only does she have nine girls (Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania), she´s a single mom. When your baby-daddy is Zeus, and you´re not his Sister-Wife Hera, you´re gonna be a single mom. That just comes with the Hellenic territory. What I´m saying is, this woman, Mnemosyne — this goddess (of memory) — had nine kids with a guy who´s obviously not there for her or for them, plus she´s got a Job! She´s busy singing in the ears of Homer and David E. Kelley (Discursive Aside page 15), helping them create Achilles and Ally McBeal. Not only that, she´s singing in your ear, she´s singing in my ear, and like Santa Claus, she has to be everywhere for everyone at once, with gifts!
Santa had elves helping him. Mnemosyne´s only got nine artsy daughters who busy themselves with things like epic poetry and wind instruments. These daughters have packed schedules as well. One of the things Mesdames les Muses do, is rendezvous regularly at nine-o´clock in the morning with Monsieur Tchaïkovski.
Monsieur Tchaïkovski:
“To regret the past, to hope in the future, and never to be satisfied with the present: that is what I spend my whole life doing”
Me too, Monsieur Tchaïkovski, me too.
More Monsieur Tchaïkovski:
Do not believe those who try to persuade you that composition is only a cold exercise of the intellect. The only music capable of moving and touching us is that which flows from the depths of a composer’s soul when he is stirred by inspiration. There is no doubt that even the greatest musical geniuses have sometimes worked without inspiration. This guest does not always respond to the first invitation. We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavouring to meet it half-way, we easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be patient, and believe that inspiration will come to those who can master their disinclination.
A few days ago I told you I was working every day without any real inspiration. Had I given way to my disinclination, undoubtedly I should have drifted into a long period of idleness. But my patience and faith did not fail me, and to-day I felt that inexplicable glow of inspiration of which I told you; thanks to which I know beforehand that whatever I write to-day will have power to make an impression, and to touch the hearts of those who hear it. I hope you will not think I am indulging in self-laudation, if I tell you that I very seldom suffer from this disinclination to work. I believe the reason for this is that I am naturally patient. I have learnt to master myself, and I am glad I have not followed in the steps of some of my Russian colleagues, who have no self-confidence and are so impatient that at the least difficulty they are ready to throw up the sponge. This is why, in spite of great gifts, they accomplish so little, and that in an amateur way.
Below you hear his Nutcracker and — so delightful of all — follow along the full score as it plays!
Next page 83 Wahre Kunst bleibt unvergänglich. (True art remains eternal.) -- Ludwig van Beethoven