# The Untimely Dead: What Composer Would You Bring Back From the Grave?



## cort (Feb 24, 2013)

*The Young Dead
*
If you could lift one (or a couple) of composers who died young (say before 50) out of the grave to continue their illustrious careers, who would be your first choices?

I can think of five: Mozart (35), Schubert (31), Schumann (36) , Mendelssohn (38), Bellini (34)....I'm sure there are many more.


Schubert
Mozart - god knows what he would have accomplished but I think Schubert might have gone further. 
Bellini
Schumann
Mendelssohn


I would give Rossini an honorary mention since after his early 30's he didn't compose any more operas. If I could bring him back to health and composing status I would put him in top five.



> Schubert:
> 
> The works of his last two years reveal a composer increasingly meditating on the darker side of the human psyche and human relationships, and with a deeper sense of spiritual awareness and conception of the 'beyond'. He reaches extraordinary depths in several chillingly dark songs of this period, especially in the larger cycles. For example, the song "Der Doppelgänger" (D 957 no. 13, "The double") reaching an extraordinary climax, conveying madness at the realization of rejection and imminent death - a stark and visionary picture in sound and words that had been prefigured a year before by "Der Leiermann" (D 911 no. 24, "The Hurdy-Gurdy Man") at the end of "Winterreise" - and yet the composer is able to touch repose and communion with the infinite in the almost timeless ebb and flow of the String Quintet and his last three piano sonatas, moving between joyful, vibrant poetry and remote introspection.
> 
> Even in large-scale works he was sometimes using increasingly sparse textures; Newbould cites his writing in the fragmentary Symphony in D major (D 936 A), probably the work of his very last two months. In this work, he anticipates Mahler's use of folksong-like harmonics and bare soundscapes.[59] Schubert expressed the wish, were he to survive his final illness, to further develop his knowledge of harmony and counterpoint, and had actually made appointments for lessons with the counterpoint master Simon Sechter.[60]


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2015)

A couple other greats that didn't make it to 50:

Claude Vivier
Fausto Romitelli


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Purcell (36) 
Pergolesi (26)
Weber (39)
Fanny Mendelssohn (41)
Chopin (39)
Juan Crisostomo Arriaga (19)
Hermann Goetz (35)
Gershwin (39)
Guillaume Lekeu (24)
Lili Boulanger (24)
Andre Mathieu (39)


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Scriabin

Skryabin

Skrjabin

Scriabine

Скрябин

斯克里亚宾

スクリャービン

스크랴빈


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Hans Rott - a student at the same time as Mahler


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

In a good sushi restaurant I would resurrect Morton Feldman, Ludwig van Beethoven, Arnold Schoenberg, and Gustav Mahler and treat them to dinner.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

It doesn't matter that he made it past 50, Debussy died too soon.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Look I get Beethoven was 56 but he is sort of the clear choice for me... Even if it were just for 5 years or so that would be better than some of the aforementioned composers getting 20+... I mean am I wrong?


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Only one or a couple? I'll make it Mozart and Schubert.


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

Berg's on the cusp age-wise but he deserved another 25 years even if that amounted to a mere handful of works. Ditto Mahler. Otherwise, Schubert's my clear choice as there seemed to be no limit to his magic.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Mozart, who would writing ever more great works and re-shape the course of classical music development. No doubt.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Check out the following thread: http://www.talkclassical.com/26842-composers-who-died-way.html?highlight=died


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## Baregrass (Feb 16, 2015)

Mozart and Mendelssohn no doubt.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I know Beethoven lived to 56, but he could still have done a lot more.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

All of them. All the composers, and non-composers too. And the dinosaurs and trilobites and hyaenodons and passenger pigeons.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Look I get Beethoven was 56 but he is sort of the clear choice for me... Even if it were just for 5 years or so that would be better than some of the aforementioned composers getting 20+... I mean am I wrong?

You're wrong. Just compare the works of Beethoven's last 5 years with those of the blinding white light of Mozart and Schubert's last 5 years.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

MoonlightSonata said:


> I know Beethoven lived to 56, but he could still have done a lot more.


Too bad. At 65, he would have gotten a nice pension from the Deutsche Bonn-Bonn Society.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would bring back William Schuman. Would love to have an 11th symphony.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Look I get Beethoven was 56 but he is sort of the clear choice for me... Even if it were just for 5 years or so that would be better than some of the aforementioned composers getting 20+... I mean am I wrong?
> 
> You're wrong. Just compare the works of Beethoven's last 5 years with those of the blinding white light of Mozart and Schubert's last 5 years.


Look I'm not trying to tear Mozart down, we all know he's a God... but he didn't really innovate music or break new ground the way Beethoven did. You make it harder by throwing in Schubert as well but he wasn't as technically proficient as Beethoven. It's hard because I've only recently gotten into Schubert and he is a marvel but his grasp of contrapuntal technique was iffy... and I understand he had sought out a counterpoint teacher right before he died so yeah more time would have been something but that last period of Beethoven's is so endlessly surprising and filled with glimpses of what was to come, just the last symphony, the missa solemnis, the last 3 piano sonatas and the late quartets and all in the last 3 years of his life... come on you must admit I make a strong case for old Ludwig.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

hpowders said:


> I would bring back William Schuman. Would love to have an 11th symphony.


I could completely get behind this remark as well..


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Look I get Beethoven was 56 but he is sort of the clear choice for me... Even if it were just for 5 years or so that would be better than some of the aforementioned composers getting 20+... I mean am I wrong?
> 
> You're wrong. Just compare the works of Beethoven's last 5 years with those of the blinding white light of Mozart and Schubert's last 5 years.


Well, since it just seemed like he meant it as a personal preference. It isn't necessarily wrong for _him_. Myself, I'd take 5 more years of late Beethoven than 10 or 20 more yrs of quite a few great composers. He wrote string quartets 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and the Grosse Fuge in two year stretch. That's all I need to know. Would I take those 5 years over 20 more years of Schubert. Nope... Mozart? _Probably_ not because the curious and diplomatic side of me would have liked to have heard how he would have sounded in the 1800s. It's a scary (good) hypothetical, that's for sure.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Fugue Meister said:


> I could completely get behind this remark as well..


You reveal yourself to be a man of discerning intelligence!

I was also thinking of bringing Schönberg back to simply ask him which spelling of his name does he prefer:

Schönberg vs Schoenberg?

And once I've softened him up a bit after that, I would ask him to write Piano Concerto No. 2 and Violin Concerto No. 2.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

hpowders said:


> You reveal yourself to be a man of discerning intelligence!
> 
> I was also thinking of bringing Schönberg back to simply ask him which spelling of his name does he prefer:
> 
> ...


To be completely honest it was you who opened that can of worms I'd listened to him once until I saw a post you threw up championing the virtues of this great American composer and by the name Schuman.. (I don't know if you know of my rather legendary disdain for the other Schumann so it nice to be able to say to people "yes I love Schuman but not the one your speaking of"...)

Anyway so many thanks hpowers... :tiphat: you brought another unsuspecting to the kool-aid.. :lol:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Fugue Meister said:


> To be completely honest it was you who opened that can of worms I'd listened to him once until I saw a post you threw up championing the virtues of this great American composer and by the name Schuman.. (I don't know if you know of my rather legendary disdain for the other Schumann so it nice to be able to say to people "yes I love Schuman but not the one your speaking of"...)
> 
> Anyway so many thanks hpowers... :tiphat: you brought another unsuspecting to the kool-aid.. :lol:


Thank you for remembering my post!

I don't care much for Schumann either and I also consider Schuman to be the greater composer.

My one regret is that Leonard Bernstein never recorded the symphonies 3-10, say around 1985-1987 in modern sound with a world class orchestra.

I mean how many more Mahler recordings did we need from him, when such other worthy composers like Schuman were being ignored.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would bring Domenico Scarlatti back; chain him to a chair and force him to listen to his 500+ sonatas, consecutively.

To make the experience as sadistic as possible, I would force him to listen to each sonata as performed on modern piano.

If he was lucky, he would have a cyanide capsule under his tongue.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I love Scarlatti's sonatas. Just refer to them by Czerny's catalog and you won't have so many to contend with.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

hpowders said:


> I would bring Domenico Scarlatti back; chain him to a chair and force him to listen to his 500+ sonatas, consecutively.
> 
> To make the experience as sadistic as possible, I would force him to listen to each sonata as performed on modern piano.
> 
> If he was lucky, he would have a cyanide capsule under his tongue.


Um okay. That sounds pretty scary. And yes, I would love to have Scarlatti back and see if he can meet up with Scott Ross. Would be curious about the results there.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Look I'm not trying to tear Mozart down, we all know he's a God... but he didn't really innovate music or break new ground the way Beethoven did.

Please. That just Beethoven fan boy gibberish. Mozart was no less innovative than Beethoven. Haydn established the form of the string quartet and the symphony. Mozart's late quartets and symphonies took these to new levels pointing toward Beethoven. But then you have the operas. Mozart's innovation in opera are equal to anyone's... and surely far surpass Beethoven's.

You make it harder by throwing in Schubert as well but he wasn't as technically proficient as Beethoven.

"Technically proficient"? I haven't recognized all that many flaws.

It's hard because I've only recently gotten into Schubert and he is a marvel but his grasp of contrapuntal technique was iffy...

And Beethoven's is comic in comparison to Bach. But what does that have to do with the merits of the music? Counterpoint isn't a necessary measure of all music.

Beethoven's is so endlessly surprising and filled with glimpses of what was to come, just the last symphony, the missa solemnis, the last 3 piano sonatas and the late quartets and all in the last 3 years of his life...

One can say the same of any major composer... they all point toward what is to come simply because subsequent composers all build upon them.

Beethoven was a giant. I have no doubt he ranks alongside Mozart and Bach... but from the output of his last 5 years I'm not certain that another 5 years would come near to matching what Mozart or Schubert likely would have achieved.

Mozart's last 5 years include:

String Quintets 2,3,4
_Don Giovanni_
Piano Concerto 26 & 27
Symphonies 39, 40 & 41
Piano Sonatas 15-18
"Prussian Quartets"
Clarinet Quintet
_Cosi fan tutte_
_Die Zauberflöte_
_La clemenza di Tito_
Clarinet Concerto
Requiem
as well as an entire slew of "Concert Arias"

Schubert's last 5 years give us:

Piano Sonata in E minor, D 769
Octet in F Major
String Quartet 13 (Rosamunde), 14 (Death and the Maiden), & 15
Trios 1 & 2 for violin, violoncello and piano
Sonata in C Major for piano duet (Grand Duo)
Sonata in A minor for arpeggione and piano
Piano Sonata in C Major D. 840
Piano Sonata in A minor D 845
Piano Sonata in D Major D 850
Mass D 872
String Quartet in G Major D. 887
Piano Sonata in G Major D. 894
The Impromptus
_Winterreise_
Mass No. 6 in E-flat Major D. 950
String Quintet in C Major D. 956
D 958- Piano Sonata in C minor 
D 959- Piano Sonata in A major 
D 960- Piano Sonata in B-flat major 
Symphony no. 9
Music for Schauspiel "Rosamunde"
Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts "Fräulein am See"
_Die schöne Müllerin_
Song cycle _Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister"_
_Schwanengesang_
as well as literally hundred of lieder

Honestly, Bach is my favorite composer, but he slowed down quite a bit in his final 5 years... although he still turned out the _Mass in B minor_, the _Musical Offering_, and _The Art of the Fugue_

Mozart and Schubert's careers were truncated while they were working at a white lightning pace.

Beyond them? I'd take a shot on Pergolesi. His _Stabat Mater_ suggested such possibility.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio, I'm with you on pretty much everything. However, I think it's okay to say that some composers were indeed more innovative (or radical or whatever you wanna say) than others and in this case it's safe to say that Beethoven was more innovative. I've _never_ read that being contested, to be honest. I don't consider that a point against Mozart whatsoever. They just happened to exist in different periods, Beethoven was completely molded by the revolutionary (literally) surroundings in which he matured as a composer. Beethoven was considered a "radical modernist" (Maynard Solomon) in his own time, he brought on a "sea change" in music.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Schubert. Not so much because I think he's so much better than Mozart but because he would have seen the latter 19th century and I think that would fascinating.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

^ That would have been amazing, Schubert composing alongside Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner, Schumann, etc. in the 1830s - 1860s. In an alternative universe, perhaps.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Look StlukesguildOhio.... maybe your right... and maybe I'm right. :devil:


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

OP: I'd bring back J.S. Bach. Though after looking around, I am convinced he'd run back to his grave horrified.


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## HIDEKI SUKENOBU (Mar 31, 2015)

Naturally W.A.Mozart. I'd like to listen to anything he might have written after KV.626.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Takemitsu I would enjoy seeing him resurrected.


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## HIDEKI SUKENOBU (Mar 31, 2015)

Albert7 said:


> Takemitsu I would enjoy seeing him resurrected.


Takemitsu left a lot of music, but I've listened to almost none of them. As far as I know, the average Japanese gets in touch with his music through his high interests and activities onto the cinema music. Among those things, my recommendation is a tango/waltz played in the film _the Woman of Sand_.


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## Überstürzter Neumann (Jan 1, 2014)

Mozart. I suppose what illness that killed him would have been treatable today, and one can only speculate on what masterpieces he could have created had he been allow to live into advanced age.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would bring back Bruckner. 

As Europe has become more influenced by secular progressives, completely changing respect and participation in organized religion from the time he was composing, would this dramatically affect his outlook and affect his future musical compositions or not?


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Both Mendelssohns


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

It's astonishing, and very sad, to realize that by normal composers' standards, Mozart and Schubert were _just getting started_ when they died. Almost impossible to imagine what they could have done. I think Schubert might have taken harmony to places where it didn't go until the 20th century.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Mozart. I'd be curious to see what the most natural composing genius in classical music would have done with modern music styles.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Basing my choice on composers who were developing new directions and yet cut short due to premature death, I'd put forward:

Alain
Arriaga
Bizet
Lekeu
Mahler
Schubert


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## cort (Feb 24, 2013)

arpeggio said:


> Check out the following thread: http://www.talkclassical.com/26842-composers-who-died-way.html?highlight=died


Great thread - thanks


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## cort (Feb 24, 2013)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Look I get Beethoven was 56 but he is sort of the clear choice for me... Even if it were just for 5 years or so that would be better than some of the aforementioned composers getting 20+... I mean am I wrong?
> 
> You're wrong. Just compare the works of Beethoven's last 5 years with those of the blinding white light of Mozart and Schubert's last 5 years.


Good question - who had the best last year?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Schubert. Not so much because I think he's so much better than Mozart but because he would have seen the latter 19th century and I think that would fascinating.

I would be seriously torn between Mozart and Schubert. Given the speed at which Schubert matured and the brilliance of his late string quartets, piano sonatas, and final two symphonies (to say nothing of Winterreise, Schwanengesang, etc...) in spite of his admittedly limited musical education (in contrast to Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, etc...) one can only begin to imagine what he might have achieved. What would he have done with the symphony with another 20 years? Might he not have tackled a piano or violin concerto? What of opera? His future cut short seems the most pregnant with possibilities.

With Mozart I just would want more operas and vocal music (a finished Requiem), more works for clarinet, and a return to the violin concerto.

In a like manner, I'd like to hear a few more piano concertos by Beethoven and another violin concerto... or two.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

I don't know if he's been mentioned yet, but I'd like to bring back Charles Tomlinson Griffes. He showed diverse interests in forms (orchestral, lieder, etc) and in sonorities (Impressionistic, Asian, etc) Who knows where his interests would've taken him if he hadn't died at 35?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Mozart left us enough music. Schubert didn't.


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Mozart left us enough music. Schubert didn't.


While I don't know how bold I want to be by agreeing with this, I will say a version of this:

Mozart already covered pretty much every genre of the day (no large oratorios, but oratorios versus operas with a lot of choruses...let's not bother splitting hairs here). Therefore, anything he would've left us would have likely been in a similar vein, not that any of us would say no to more works like the late Mozart operas or late piano concertos.

Schubert, as Stlukes already mentioned, was not only maturing very rapidly at the end of his life, but he had left the concerti option unused, and, as far as I know, what operas we have from him were not the most mature works either.

Either way would've turned out well; I think we can agree on that. Though, personally, I find composers of later eras to be more interesting for the purposes of this thread, as the divergence of styles beginning in the Romantic Era changed the fact that, as one composer died, the rest simply picked up where he left off, and so on.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Hard call. Both Mozart and Schubert were changing (and in most estimations improving) at the ends of their lives. But so, some would say, was Beethoven, who passed at 56 with a full plate of planned compositions. After all, think of what Haydn wrote after he had passed that age.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Woodduck said:


> Mozart left us enough music. Schubert didn't.


600 songs not enough for you? He left nearly one thousand pieces, including these - not bad for 31 years.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Delicious Manager said:


> 600 songs not enough for you? He left nearly one thousand pieces, including these - not bad for 31 years.


He also left behind a lot of fragments as well, and much of his best completed chamber works were written very late in his life and I suspect its those that most on the thread want more of.

I'd want more of both Mozart and Schubert, personally. Given the monumental gains Mozart made in his last symphonies, each written in a period of only two weeks each, combined with the viola quintets, the string trio, the clarinet concerto and 27th piano concerto as well as two operas and a requiem mass, I think someone would have to be a neanderthal, at least musically, to be satisfied that he died at a good time and wouldn't have composed anything just as great, if not greater, had he lived longer.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

trazom said:


> He also left behind a lot of fragments as well, and much of his best completed chamber works were written very late in his life and I suspect its those that most on the thread want more of..


He wrote his String Quintet _months_ before he died.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Some interesting ones:

Lekeu, already mentioned (24) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Lekeu

William Baines (23) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Baines

Vitezslava Kapralova (25) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vítězslava_Kaprálová


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

First of all, I'd bring back Gershwin to write some more concert pieces, not least a Symphony.

Then I'd bring back Bruckner so he can finish his Ninth Symphony. If we're lucky, we might even get a Tenth out of him.

And speaking of Tenths, I'd bring back Mahler and play him Cooke's performing version of his Tenth, to get his opinion.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would bring back Leonard Bernstein, though not in his composing role, but to simply conduct and record all the Schuman Symphonies 3-10, "live" with the Chicago Symphony.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

My choice would be to bring back those composers whose lives were cut short in battle, e.g. George Butterworth:


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## Guest (Apr 20, 2015)

ArtMusic said:


> Mozart, who would writing ever more great works and re-shape the course of classical music development. No doubt.


 Anyone who knows my musical tastes would expect me to agree with you totally. I also would resurrect Mozart and I think he would have given us many more masterpieces. However, I disagree that given additional years he would have continued to reshape the course of musical development. Mozart's direction was set and he showed no signs of developing his style of composition further than perfecting the style he had already. Given another couple decades he probably would have given us lots more of the music we love from him already, but those years would have been marked by less popularity at the time. People would have regarded him as a has-been. "That Mozart fellow was pretty good but this Beethoven guy is amazing!"


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Jerome said:


> Anyone who knows my musical tastes would expect me to agree with you totally. I also would resurrect Mozart and I think he would have given us many more masterpieces. However, I disagree that given additional years he would have continued to reshape the course of musical development. Mozart's direction was set and he showed no signs of developing his style of composition further than perfecting the style he had already. Given another couple decades he probably would have given us lots more of the music we love from him already, but those years would have been marked by less popularity at the time. People would have regarded him as a has-been. "That Mozart fellow was pretty good but this Beethoven guy is amazing!"


What is 'perfection' of one's style if not development of that style? What about the increasing amount of harmonic complexity of his late works, not just in counterpoint but use of dissonance in comparison to everything else that was being composed by his peers? The inverted major 7th chords from the opening adagio of the 39th symphony, the quasi-tone row from the finale of the 40th symphony, the use of chromatic and whole tone scales to outline fourths in the "Dissonance" quartet, all point to a composer who was always developing and expanding his harmonic language. And because there's already ample evidence of how quickly his style was changing and that, in the presence of other great composers, he strove to push himself even further, it's not unreasonable to assume his style would've continued to change. Much more reasonable than the extrapolation of JS Bach's story and applying it to Mozart, a composer of a different style, personality, and cultural setting.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Schubert is music's greatest loss.
No 30-year-old has given us works of such towering genius as he did.
Even had he lived as long as Mozart, think what we could have?

Outside that, a non-deaf Beethoven might have been nearly as interesting as a 65-year-old Beethoven.
And Bizet was just getting going too.

Makes me grumpy with guys like Rossini, Elgar and Sibelius who spent their final decades in obstinate silence.
cheers,
Graeme


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Delicious Manager said:


> 600 songs not enough for you? He left nearly one thousand pieces, including these - not bad for 31 years.


I want more chamber music, lots more; further experiments with the symphony; more mature choral works; a successful opera; more piano sonatas and other pieces for two or four hands. Schubert's expressive powers, technical means, and originality were expanding exponentially in his late work, and he still had problems to solve in the deployment of long forms. His sensibility was unique, and he would have been one of the major voices in the Romantic movement of the 1830s, '40s, and possibly beyond.


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## Pimlicopiano (Oct 23, 2014)

From classical times it can only be Schubert - to have another 20 years of his genius would be extraordinary. From late 19th/20th Century - Scriabin, just to see where he would have pushed with his atonality and how it could have affected the Second Viennese School and all 20th Century music. Of course though he might have just gone off his rocker.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Pimlicopiano said:


> From classical times it can only be Schubert - to have another 20 years of his genius would be extraordinary. From late 19th/20th Century - Scriabin, just to see where he would have pushed with his atonality and how it could have affected the Second Viennese School and all 20th Century music. Of course though he might have just gone off his rocker.


We agree on Schubert. As for Scriabin, I fear his rocker was already about to tip him into the fireplace.

You know - _Vers la flamme._


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## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

Becca said:


> Hans Rott - a student at the same time as Mahler


I agree. Hans Rott died in his 20s. The only symphony his wrote is unbelievable. He could have surpassed Maher or Wagner.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Purcell is another one who could have lived longer. I would love to see what he could have done.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Purcell is another one who could have lived longer. I would love to see what he could have done.


I would bring Purcell back just to hear his comments after listening to Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.


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## jenspen (Apr 25, 2015)

It's Schubert's early death that I feel most personally deprived by. It hurts me to think about what we're missing.

Once I would have said the obvious answer was Mozart, but now I feel that he at least didn't die before reaching his musical maturity. 

And perhaps we had the best that Hugo Wolf (dead at 43) could give us (for which I am enormously grateful). 

Because I love song, another loss I feel personally is that of George Butterworth, killed in the First World War. I was glad to see that he had already been mentioned. The Lads in their Hundreds...


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