# Composers who died way too young.



## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

Who IYO, left this world before they could really find a voice or really establish themselves but showed promise. Now I am not referring to composers like Mozart and Schurbert, who did the 2 above, IMO. Here are 2 below. One I am listning to now, thus the reason for this thread.

William Hurlstone
Ernest Farrar(who I am listning to)

Both of these British and died in there early 30s. Hurlstone, illness(at the moment don't remember which) and Farrar, WW1 took him. 
Hurlstone's Piano concerto is a gem.
Farrar's 'Rhaspody, The Open Road', 'Variations for Piano and Orchrestra' and 'The Forsaken Merman', Orchrestra works of the 1st order. Shame gone much too soon.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Aside from a couple of obvious bigger names, Charles Tomlinson Griffes comes to mind, dying at 35 from influenza. What wonders might he have produced?


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Toivo Kuula.

A bullet on Walpurgis Night.


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## jimsumner (Jul 7, 2013)

Spanish composer Juan Arriaga (1806-26) died a few days shy of his 20th birthday, with a handful of works to his credit. But his string quartets, among others, have been recorded multiple times. He might have been the Spanish Mozart. Or maybe not. But we'll never know. But we do know that it was huge loss to classical music. 

Hans Rott died at age 25, with a promising symphony. Compared to Arriaga and Rott, folks like Mendelssohn, Chopin and Gershwin were grey-beards when they shuffled off this mortal coil.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Weston said:


> Aside from a couple of obvious bigger names, Charles Tomlinson Griffes comes to mind, dying at 35 from influenza. What wonders might he have produced?


Yes! One wonders indeed. He would have developed, I think, into one of the most prominent American composers. He might have even ended up experimenting with atonality. Who knows?

Speaking of atonality, Berg died young too (50 yrs. old). There's no telling what else he had up his sleeve. He was just getting better and better.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Ernst Mielck, another Finn.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Lili Boulanger (1893-1918; died at age 25):


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## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

I have talked about him before but once again I give you, Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis, Composer and Painter, who at 35, left a mark in both but what could have come. 'In the Forest' and 'The Sea', both Tone poems and powerful, rich and lovely.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Elliot Carter

:lol:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Vasily Kallinikov, whose 1st Symphony is wonderful. Died at 34 of tuberculosis.

Ludwig van Beethoven, who died at 56. He was at the top of his form and had a list of projects in hand. At that age Haydn still had not written his quartets Op. 54 and later, the London Symphonies, or his great oratorios or Esterhazy masses!


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## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

Celloman said:


> Elliot Carter
> 
> :lol:


Oh come on, we can do better: Leo Ornstein.:lol


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Julius Reubke, died at 24. Wrote the Sonata on the 94th psalm for organ (considered to be one of the best pieces of Romantic organ music), a few more lesser organ pieces and piano pieces, and a Piano Sonata that resembles Liszt's famous Sonata in B minor. His music is not great, but it does show a composer who had so much potential.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710 - 1736). Carried off by tuberculosis shortly after achieving fame as the composer of some of the music in the film Amadeus.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

And then there is of course Sibelius, who was just taking a breather and was preparing to embark on a new cycle of symphonies when he was taken from us at a tender age.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

KenOC said:


> Vasily Kallinikov, whose 1st Symphony is wonderful. Died at 34 of tuberculosis.
> 
> Ludwig van Beethoven, who died at 56. He was at the top of his form and had a list of projects in hand. At that age Haydn still had not written his quartets Op. 54 and later, the London Symphonies, or his great oratorios or Esterhazy masses!


I love both of Kallinikov's symphonies that I have heard. I had no idea hew was that young.

As to Beethoven, I realize with horror that I have now outlived him.  I suppose all composers die too young if they are among our favorites.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

aleazk said:


> Lili Boulanger (1893-1918; died at age 25):


Thumbs up! Yes! A fine composer that left behind some gems. She definitely would have achieved a lot more critical acclaim had she lived longer.


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2013)

Weston said:


> I suppose all composers die too young if they are among our favorites.


Indeed. My first thought when I first saw the thread title.

But then there was that whole "living up to early promise thing," which hardly applies to Mozart and Schubert, but might apply to Fausto Romitelli.


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2013)

Carl Filtsch, Chopin's most talented pupil, died before his 15th birthday.

After triumphant concerts in Paris, London, and Vienna, his promising career was cut short by an early death in Venice from tuberculosis. // Wikipedia


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Bellini, Rott, Butterworth, Reger... Reger was already prolific and usually considered to be an arch-conservative leftover from the Brahmsian age. He may well have obstinately refused to change his philosophy but as he was only 43 when he died there was still plenty of time for him to formulate a more flexible approach once the 1920s kicked in. And although he was the polar opposite to Reger in terms of how much he composed perhaps the same could be said for Alberic Magnard had he not been killed by marauding Uhlans while defending his estate in 1914, although in his case something tells me he would have been rather less open to new ideas.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Julian Scriabin, Alexander Scriabin's son,died at 11.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Peter Warlock,* known for his _Capriol Suite_ for strings and to some extent his songs. Died in his thirties (most likely suicide). His addition to study of Elizabethan music is also of importance. Delius wrote to Warlock saying "I ... know how gifted you are and what possibilities are in you." (that's on wikipedia) Warlock was influenced by Delius and supported him as a critic, so this is understandable. I think that the little I've heard of his music shows Warlock as really good at combining elements of tradition with the then new trends in music. I see him as having things in common with composers like Percy Grainger around the same time.

There's also *Mussorgsky* who only died in his forties. He was a total mess due to his alcohol addiction, even what he left behind is great (even if not all finished), but its a very strong legacy from the pieces I've heard by him. One anecdote is two other composers (I think one possibly being Borodin) literally finding Mussorgsky drunk in the gutter. How sad is this? What a loss.

The usual big names, even those whose reputation is secure despite early (or relatively early) deaths, I agree died way too young even then. Eg. Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Weber, Schumann, Scriabin, Wolf, even those who reached their fifties like Berg and Mahler. Maybe Beethoven as well? The average life expectancy in Western nations these days is well over fifty, but back then if you reached that age you where doing well.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2013)

Life expectancy is an interesting concept. Different from life span.

Life expectancy includes infant mortality. If life expectancy in a particular time is 35 years, that doesn't mean every person then would be expected to live to 35. It does mean that for every child that died an infant, another person would live to be 70. As infant mortality drops, life expectancy increases. But life span doesn't change as much. 

Before 1800, if you lived past 15, you could expect to keep going well past 50. A sizeable chunk (about 30%) could be expected to die before 15, however.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

brianvds said:


> Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710 - 1736). Carried off by tuberculosis shortly after achieving fame as the composer of some of the music in the film Amadeus.


The Stabat Mater first duet is sublime.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

some guy said:


> Life expectancy is an interesting concept. Different from life span.


Quite true. Age 70 has been considered "old age" since biblical times. The growth in "average" life expectancy has been solely due to the number of people surviving infant mortality and into old age. From 35-40 in the bad old days to 70+ today. Thank antibiotics and water disinfection, among other things. Old, though is still old (ask me how I know).


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

Gershwin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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## Pip (Aug 16, 2013)

For me,the great what might have been was George Butterworth .Shot by a sniper at the battle of the Somme in 1916. 31 years old. His "Shropshire Lad" and rhapsody lead one to assume that we probably lost a" great one". A combination of Delius and Vaughan-Williams blended into a new sound that I find completely satisfying. I often find myself wishing that someone would discover an unpublished work or two.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

Norbert Burgmüller (8 February 1810 – 7 May 1836) was a German composer. In 1836 he went to a spa in Aachen, where he drowned during an epileptic seizure.


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## TudorMihai (Feb 20, 2013)

An example from my country is Ciprian Porumbescu (1853-1883) who died aged only 29 from tuberculosis. He had great talent and created one of the masterpieces of Romanian classical music, Ballad for Violin and Orchestra. A great composer gone too soon.






Another beautiful composition is his Romanian Rhapsody


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## GiulioCesare (Apr 9, 2013)

Celloman said:


> Elliot Carter
> 
> :lol:


I came here with the sole purpose of making this joke. Damn you.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Here are a few I think could have been awarded longer life's if I had some say over historical events; 
Gustav Mahler (51)
Anton Webern (61)
Jehan Alain (29)
Peter Warlock / Philip Heseltine (36)

And as always, my guy who died to early at a high age is Dmitri Shostakovich!

/ptr


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## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

There was a British man, a contemporary of Beethoven, named Pinto whose limited piano output was remarkably far-sighted. He had Mozart-like potential but died at *20*.

If there any pianists here who have looked at his music, please tell us what you think.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Well, let's see.... Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Bach, Vivaldi, Schubert, Schumann, Dvorak, Stravinsky.... 

The reason? Well, they died too young 'cause they didn't live long enough for me to know them....


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

It would have been really nice to know Beethoven's reaction to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, if only he had lived a couple more years.... oh ya and had not lost his hearing. 

Franz Liszt is a composer not often brought up as someone who died too young, but I would have loved to know what he would have thought about impressionism since he swam into "proto-impressionist" territory on some occasions. If he could have been around to hear Debussy's Preludes....well, he'd be 97 years old or so but ya know...


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

any composer who was or is someone's favorite composer.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I was just reading a little bit about Enrique Granados on Wikipedia, and was sad to learn about his end:



> The delay incurred by accepting the recital invitation caused him to miss his boat back to Spain. Instead, he took a ship to England, where he boarded the passenger ferry Sussex for Dieppe, France. On the way across the English Channel, the Sussex was torpedoed by a German U-boat, as part of the German World War I policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. In a failed attempt to save his wife Amparo, whom he saw flailing about in the water some distance away, Granados jumped out of his lifeboat and drowned. He had a morbid fear of water for his entire life, and he was returning from his first-ever series of ocean voyages. The ship broke in two parts and only one sank (along with 80 passengers). Ironically, the part of the ship that contained his cabin did not sink and was towed to port, with most of the passengers on board. Granados and his wife left six children: Eduard (a musician), Solita, Enrique (a swimming champion), Víctor, Natàlia, and Francisco.


Apparently he didn't know how to swim. He wasn't _that_ young by the standards of this thread when he died, but anyone who dies that well deserves to live longer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Granados


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

The American Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Elmira, New York, September 17, 1884 – New York City, April 8, 1920) is one that I wished could've lived longer. He died in a flu epidemic. His works included orchestral pieces, piano works, songs and a ballet. It would've been interesting to hear how his style would've progressed had he lived.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

So, so many. My Lord! Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Chopin. Astonishingly short life spans.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (British)
Alexei Stanchinsky (Russian)
Peteris Barisons (Latvian)
Anton Arensky (Russian)
Alexander Serov (Russian)
Hamish McCunn (British)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

So many fine composers died relatively young. Yet conductors seem to age better.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Conductors make much more physical training...

Fausto Romitelli (1963-2004), died at only 41, he was considered one of the most interesting young European composers of his generation...


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## OperaGeek (Aug 15, 2014)

Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92)
Hermann Goetz (1840-76)


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## stevens (Jun 23, 2014)

-And then there are those composers who died way too old.:devil:

Sorry, I couldnt resist


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

I'm surprised not to see Bizet listed here. He was only 37, and could have written several more operas of the quality of Carmen. 

Also, a relatively unknown composer named Stephen Albert, who was killed in an automobile accident when he was 51. His Symphony "Riverrun", which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1985, is a very nice work. 

And then there was also Chausson, who died at 44 in a bicycle accident. 

Another I can think of is Alexei Vladimirovitch Stanchinsky, who died at only 26. However, in his case, it may have been a blessing, since he suffered from nervous disorders, and was regarded as an "unstable" person. I have gotten great pleasure from his piano music.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yes. Bizet never lived to see Carmen on DVD.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

hpowders said:


> So many fine composers died relatively young. Yet conductors seem to age better.


Perhaps it is because conductors generally take much longer to reach their prime .... and therefore the young ones are unlikely to have gained a big enough reputation if they die young - an exception being Guido Cantelli, perhaps (died aged 36?). (Additionally, many of the composers who died 'young' did so a fair time ago .... yet the cult of the conductor gained momentum in the C20th when average life expectancy climbed significantly)


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## Onder (Jan 2, 2014)

Mieczysław Karłowicz. 1876 - 1909. Died skiing.

His violin concerto is sweet. Maybe too sweet for some.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I think they all died too young.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Has anyone mentioned George Butterworth? He was an amazing composer who died at the age of 31. He is best known for _The Banks of Green Willow_.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Itullian said:


> I think they all died too young.


Even Elliot Carter?


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Monteverdi; imagine the operas he could have composed after Il Ritorno and Poppea!


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

I'll add my voice to the chorus of Romitelli fans and add Rudi Stephan (1887-1915)


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## Declined (Apr 8, 2014)

They all died too young.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Considering how much of Hans Rott's first and only symphony turned up later in his friend and fellow student Mahler's, I would love to have seen the subsequent musical (and personal) relationship between those two.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Has anybody ever been too old to die?
Just asking as a counter balance you understand


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Haydn man said:


> Has anybody ever been too old to die?
> Just asking as a counter balance you understand


Yes. Myself, in about 10 years.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Meaning no offense some of the older members here, but.....I don't know if 56-75 is all that 'young.'


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Debussy ([!]his music remains forever young) planned to continue with the chamber sonatas. The one for violin being the last he completed. 




At about the same time he was composing an opera on Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. As far as I know, only the vocal line is his.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

More time doesn't always entail more great work. I'm sure they all died right on time.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Vesuvius said:


> More time doesn't always entail more great work. I'm sure they all died right on time.


Their opinions, of course, may differ.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Their opinions, of course, may differ.


They gone.
.........


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

trazom said:


> Meaning no offense some of the older members here, but.....I don't know if 56-75 is all that 'young.'


well, you may change your opinion as you get more experience of life ... or get older :devil:


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Wagner died just as he had decided to take a break from opera and settled on writing a symphony. Had he lived, imagine the existential chaos for Mahler and Bruckner!


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

I was just reading about Benjamin Godard, who died at the age of 45 from tuberculosis. Some of his music is quite beautiful, and it's a shame he didn't live a bit longer.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Christoph Delz (3 January 1950; 13 September 1993), of AIDS.

His complete works are recorded on five discs available from Audiomax.


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

- Ernest Chausson, who fell on his head while riding a bicycle at the age of 44, leaving his string quartet unfinished.
- Fausto Romitelli, who died at the age of 41.
- Claude Vivier, who died at the age of 35, during his own murder, that he probably organized himself (weird, really)
- Albéric Magnard, who, while defending his property from german soldiers during WWI (which they had not even attacked), was killed by a firearm, and then wasn't alive anymore to see his house burnt down, at the age of 49.
- Gabriel Dupont, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 36.
- Chopin, of course !!! (edited to add)


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

OlivierM said:


> - Claude Vivier, who died at the age of 35, during his own murder, that he probably organized himself (weird, really) (edited to add)


I was thinking Vivier should be added to this thread! I've quite enjoyed Lonely Child and some of his other works. And it's an incredibly compelling life story - orphan to preparation for the seminary to Asia and study with Stockhausen, acclaim by Ligeti, murdered by male prostitute - all in 35 years!


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

Not only murdered by a male prostitute, but while composing a piece that was depicting his murder in a similar fashion, the legend says.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

OlivierM said:


> Not only murdered by a male prostitute, but while composing a piece that was depicting his murder in a similar fashion, the legend says.


Well then, I've decided to write the story of my own death. I'm 120, surrounded by beautiful women who worship me....


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I've seen a couple posts mention "the Spanish Mozart," Arriaga, but - forgive me if I missed it - I didn't notice anyone mentioning "the English Mozart," Thomas Linley the Younger, who died at 22.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2014)

Elliott Carter. If he'd pulled off another 10 or so years of composing, people would be exposed to serial music simply because the indie kids at the water cooler want to talk about some bro that composed for 100 years.

And he's still be with me


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## nightscape (Jun 22, 2013)

Karłowicz (Karlowicz).

What he gave us was amazing and he was really just getting warmed up. Death by avalanche. Yeesh!


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

I know this is not going to sound quite logical ... but I'll say F. J. Haydn. C'mon, another oratorio was already in the works, The Day of Judgement, imagine the awesomeness of that, or the next masses he could've written.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> I know this is not going to sound quite logical ... but I'll say F. J. Haydn. C'mon, another oratorio was already in the works, The Day of Judgement, imagine the awesomeness of that, or the next masses he could've written.


Our favorite composers will have always died too young.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

violadude said:


> Our favorite composers will have always died too young.


That's for sure, hehe.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> I know this is not going to sound quite logical ... but I'll say F. J. Haydn. C'mon, another oratorio was already in the works, The Day of Judgement, imagine the awesomeness of that, or the next masses he could've written.


I thought he quit composing even before he died, and resolutely declined travel invitations and commissions for compositions of any kind. It sounds like he made up his mind.

This reminds of me an old Simpsons episode with Smithers holding his old boss Mr. Burns in his hands and lamenting "Why do the good always die so YOUNG!?!"


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## Korados (Aug 2, 2014)

Silvestre Revueltas, at the age of 39. This composer had so many things up his sleeves and then he just drank himself to death when he celebrated the success of his own work La Noche de Los Mayas.

The same thing is for George Gershwin and Felix Mendelssohn-Batholdy. It's very bitter that they died so young.
Especially Gershwin's Oeuvre is relatively small, I really would have loved to see what he would've composed if he had lived longer.


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