British Composer Quotes

George Frideric Handel
Andrew Lloyd Webber
William Byrd
Peter Warlock
Donald Swann
Noel Gay

It's the soldiers of the King, my lads
Who've been, my lads, who've seen, my lads
In the fight for England's glory lads
When we've had to show them what we mean.

Heat is work and work's a curse And all the heat in the universe Is gonna cool down Because it can't increase.

Donald Swann
Donald Swann
What good it does one to have a hearty, uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Oh! we don't want to lose you but we think you ought to go
For your King and your Country both need you so.

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,
Bow down before him, his glory proclaim.

D' ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay?
D' ye ken John Peel at the break of day?
D' ye ken John Peel when he's far far away With his hounds and his horn in the morning?
'Twas the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
And the cry of his hounds, has me ofttimes led;
For Peel's view-hollo would waken the dead,
Or the fox from his lair in the morning.

Music is neither old nor modern: it is either good or bad music, and the date at which it was written has no significance whatever.

Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock
Has anybody here seen Kelly?
Kelly from the Isle of Man?

The sun has got its hat on
Hip hip hip hooray
The sun has got its hat on
And it's coming out to play.

Noel Gay
Noel Gay
Care for thy corse, but chiefly for soul's sake;
Cut off excess, sustaining food is best;
To vanquish pride but comely clothing take

William Byrd
William Byrd
None but the most blindly credulous will imagine the characters and events in this story to be anything but fictitious. It is true that the ancient and noble city of Oxford is, of all the towns of England, the likeliest progenitor of unlikely events and persons. But there are limits.

What is called the serenity of age is only perhaps a euphemism for the fading power to feel the sudden shock of joy or sorrow.

From a tremendously vital white-hot fortissimo down to a trembling, limpid pianissimo so distant that it was difficult to sense whence the mysterious sound could be coming.

My attitude to writing is.. it's like when you do wallpapering, you know, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet, you think: "Oh my God that's horrible..." And then your friends come and say: "Who did this wallpapering? It's terrific!"

Whether I was in my body or out of my body I know not. God knows it!

George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
We've got to have
We plot to have
For it's so dreary not to have
That certain thing called the Boy Friend.

Too many years fighting back tears. Why can't the past just die? Wishing you were somehow here again, knowing we must say goodbye. Try to forgive, teach me to live, give me the strength to try! No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years. Help me say goodbye.

Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber