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The examination of even a small part of the world's music and what it means to various peoples and to various creative persons is in some ways rather like a plunge into dominant night. It is a plunge into a realm of the comparatively
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Harry Partch (Genesis of a Music: An Account of a Creative Work, Its Roots, and Its Fulfillments)
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I have thrown the petty respectable life with all is comforts behind me after the effort to broaden and beautify it has destituted me and drained my stamina. All right--let me throw it behind without guile, without hoping either for a return to it or for a constant absence. After all, it did not request my efforts. The normal live body hopes for the respect and love of others, and enough of the world to bestow largesse. He hopes and he abandons hope by turn. In the first there is fire to live, but in the second there is greater peace.
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Harry Partch (Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos (Music in American Life))