# Mozart and Schubert doubled lifespan?



## oca2074 (Oct 29, 2018)

Mozart and Schubert were composers who died just as they were reaching a new, more mature phase of work and creativity. Imagine Mozart (1756-1826) interacting with late Haydn, Beethoven, Rossini, Weber, and maybe Schubert. Would Mozart have embraced the fledging Romantic mode of music, or reject it for something closer to neo-Baroque? Or maybe a unique combination? Would he have focused on operas trying to better Rossini in popularity? How would he have reacted to Beethoven in Vienna? 

Then what if Schubert lived from 1797-1859? (Long enough to have heard all of Mendelssohn, Schumann's music, the revival of Bach, and early Brahms) Could he have wedded his lyricism with Classical techniques such as counterpoint? Could he have single-handedly stopped the drift towards romanticism and the classical masters being forgotten given his love for Mozart? How long would it take for his work to find mainstream acceptance?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I believe those composers had something to say in the time they had to say it in their music. Music was evolving. Composers fill in the gaps here and there. I don't see any composer as really that "dominant" and able to steer music in any direction they please, it just appears that some do, when they had the skill or sense to see the opportunities as they arose.

What if Schoenberg lived another 100 years? As with Mozart, I see it as not really much different than how it turned out. Either they go with the flow or get left behind. Schubert wasn't really that original.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Well, I disagree a little with Phil. I think Schubert had more of an ability to do something truly original with a few more years, than Mozart, whom I envision as too genteel. Mozart would have produced some astonishing stuff, but within more confining moulds.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Mozart was competitive - "anything you can do I can do better" - and would have responded creatively to Beethoven and to the nascent Romantic trends, but would probably have remained fundamentally classical in form and temperament. He wanted most to write more opera in German, and might have spurred Beethoven to do likewise.

Schubert seems to me more of an unknown, given that his last sonatas, symphonies and chamber works are very original in form and expression, and nothing like Mozart, Beethoven, or other early Romantics.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

MarkW said:


> Well, I disagree a little with Phil. I think Schubert had more of an ability to do something truly original with a few more years, than Mozart, *whom I envision as too genteel. * Mozart would have produced some astonishing stuff, but within more confining moulds.


That's a pretty well debunked cliche. The Magic Flute was a groundbreaking opera and one of his last works.

We have been over this ground in many other similar threads. None of us know who would have done what had they lived longer.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

MarkW said:


> Well, I disagree a little with Phil. I think Schubert had more of an ability to do something truly original with a few more years, than Mozart, whom I envision as too genteel. *Mozart would have produced some astonishing stuff, but within more confining moulds*.


I can never understand this sort of statement. A study of Mozart's works shows completely groundbreaking works such as the piano concertos and the operas. Nothing like the da Ponte operas had ever been heard. And genteel? Listen to the statue scene in Don G!


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

It so happens that I've just returned home from a live performance of Schubert's 9th Symphony, and yes I love this work. I observed I wasn't the only one in the audience wiping a little tear away during the scherzo.

His ninth, which Schubert only ever heard during a rehearsal, feels like the beginning of greatness, and I'm compelled to compare it to Beethoven's 3rd symphony, and what we know came after.

As for Mozart, I'll steer clear of that discussion.


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