A Composer's Influences
Ernst Křenek · Perspectives of New Music · 1964
(provided he is himself in a position to emanate influence) is a difficult task, because the presence or absence of influence is, like all matters of history, not verifiable through experiment. Faced with the evidence of what has happened, we will never know what might have happened if some elements contributing to the actual result of the process had been different. Although it may appear obvious that certain phases in a composer's growth were caused by influences to which he was exposed, we can never be sure whether he would not have turned in the same direction without those circumstances.