About Lukas Foss: Lukas Foss was an American composer, pianist, and conductor.
Since age seven, I've been composing and have never stopped composing, yet, the creative process is as elusive to me as it has ever been.
Yes, influences are enriching, and they can be found in every work of art, even the most original.
Personality is essential. It is in every work of art. When someone walks on stage for a performance and has charisma, everyone is convinced that he has personality. I find that charisma is merely a form of showmanship. Movie stars usually have it. A ...
I don't dare postulate about science, but I know that it takes both emotion and intellect in order for art to happen.
The best way to investigate the elusive phenomenon called the creative process may well be to target all the misconceptions, to explain what the creative process is not.
Why do we pigeonhole and label an artist? It is a sure way of missing the important, the contradictory, the things that make him or her unique.
To understand Mozart's contradictory qualities would indeed be to understand genius.
To come to grips with creativity, I must ask creative, adventurous questions - the kind which, in all likelihood, cannot be answered.
The creative act is like writing a letter. A letter is a project; you don't sit down to write a letter unless you know what you want to say and to whom you want to say it.
The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.
Mozart wrote so many works in his thirty-five years that it would take a lifetime just to write out the notes. We literally do not know how he did it.
Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.
It is obvious that anything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions. The same applies to the arts.
In the nineteenth century the more grandiose word inspiration began to replace the word idea in the arts.
I strongly suggest that we play down basics like who influenced whom, and instead study the way the influence is transformed, in other words: how the artist made it his own.
For years that may mean imitation. Then, one day, it is like a door opening, and a new thought comes in. Why not try this instead. Suddenly he is doing something original, almost in spite of himself.
Any creator owes a debt to past creation.
Truth is a big concept.
Great music does not just make me feel good. It means something. It makes us understand. It makes us happy.
There is another interesting paradox here: by immersing ourselves in what we love, we find ourselves. We do not lose ourselves. One does not lose one's identity by falling in love.
