Quotation by

Benjamin Britten

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Britten is saying that music’s beauty comes from deep, often painful emotions like loneliness, struggle, and unfulfilled desire, which makes it both powerful and harsh. He also highlights how music reflects the natural world’s harshness and the endless, sometimes dull patterns of life, creating a complex mix of feelings that can be both uplifting and sorrowful.

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Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

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I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessi…
Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.