From time to time, Extra Criticum authors will post a quote from someone we admire, something that has stuck with us over the years and is, as they say, quotable.
The following from David Lewin:
When I was studying Music Composition at Harvard, I lucked into an "independent study" with one of the great genius Music theorists of all time, David Lewin, may he rest in peace.
Many things he said to me during that year changed my approach to writing music but one of them has stuck with me and still applies to everything I write, whether it's music or text.
It's been many years so I will paraphrase but essentially his message was this:
"There's no point worrying about unity in composition because simply by virtue of the fact that you are writing this piece and it's coming out of your brain and your brain only—the same brain that dreams at night and works through all the roadblocks and kinks—whatever you put down on paper will always be 'of a piece' and 90% of the connections between ideas will remain a mystery even to you. But trust that they are there. Because they are and always will be. Your task is to simply let go, and write without worrying about consistency."