Music does not truly exist except in performance. But we must guard against praising performance apart from the music.
David Whitwell
Among our musical friends was Julius Herford. He attended a rehearsal and after we had sung it through, I turned to him. “It seems to me,” he said kindly, “that if we all did a little less singing and a little more listening, we’d have more Bach.”
Joseph Musselman, “Dear People,” 1978
This reminds one of Bernstein’s song, “I hate music, but I love to sing!”
Occasionally, one comes upon a choir, the members of which have lost all feeling for music as music and are only interested in the number of marks they may or may not gain in their competition.
Gustav Holst, Lecture at Yale on the Teaching of Art, 1929
