PHILIP GLASS

PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

A critic called composer Philip Glass’s breakthrough work, the 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach, the “seminal art work of the century,” and since then his rigorous, melodic compositions, which draw their inspiration as much from the Himalayas as from his European training under Nadia Boulanger, have inspired collaborators from Doris Lessing to Martin Scorsese. With a splashy 65thbirthday tribute planned for Carnegie Hall this month, Glass takes time out to reflect on New York City, performance art, and mumbling

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A perfect collaboration, artistic or personal.

What is your greatest fear?

Being in an airport with all flights canceled and no cabs to get home.

Which living person do you most admire?

Ravi Shankar.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Laziness.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Laziness.

What is your favorite journey?

A cab ride to my favorite restaurant.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Discipline.

On what occasion do you lie?

To protect my friends.

What is your greatest regret?

I lived in Paris from 1964 to 1966 and I never met Cocteau.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

The world of performance art.

When and where were you happiest?

New York City, when I first arrived, in 1957, to now.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Musical talent.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Making a living from the only thing I know how to do.

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?

Singer of South Indian classical music.

What is your most treasured possession?

Bob Wilson’s original drawings of Einstein on the Beach.

Where would you like to live?

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

What is your most marked characteristic?

Mumbling and speaking too fast.

What do you most value in your friends?

Their affection.

Who are your favorite writers?

Joseph Conrad.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

Gulley Jimson (from author Joyce Cary).

Who are your heroes in real life?

Gandhi, Ravi Shankar, Allen Ginsberg.

What is it that you most dislike?

Selfishness.

How would you like to die?

Surrounded by my family.

What is your motto?

“The good is the enemy of the best.”