“Indeed, from what I have noticed, most of us composers, at least as far as our own works are concerned, still live back in that old-fashioned era when it was assumed that quality would eventually win recognition, and that to promote one’s wares too intensively might very well bring one under the suspicion that one was not too sure of their intrinsic merit, that too much was being sacrificed for advertising and too little devoted to improving the product”

-Elliott Carter, from a 1953 talk on “The Need for New Choral Music”, reprinted in Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents.

A quote to ponder in an age where artists are constantly being told they must be entrepreneurs. And here I am quoting it on my website, which is essentially a big advertisement for my music…

Update: On the other hand, being deceased has not prevented Elliott from having his own quite handsome website.