Composers who died young

Started by rhomboid, May 13, 2011, 08:10:28 AM

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arkiv


Mandryka

#41
Quote from: matti on May 17, 2011, 12:16:08 PM
I'm sure you are partly right, but being drunk and playing great is not possible, the human body does not work that way, not even a Finnish one. The legend of Sibelius being a hard core alcoholic may have been true at some point of his life, but staying alive that long... his liver must have been more of a miracle in the field of medicine than all his symphonies put together in the musical one.

I am not young either, but I think alcoholism is hardly admired anymore, in any field of expertise. There are sad examples of course who suffer from it, but they are considered... well sad. Not tolerated well, no matter how talented. It's a hard core world, (unfortunately) too hard for hard core drunks.

There's an story that when Solti was recording Rheinegold, he wasn't satisfied with the way they were playing the overture, so he ordered some champagne, got them drunk, and bish bash bosh Bob's your uncle - fabulous performance.

Nikolai Demidenko gave some of the greatest Schumann recitals ever when he was totally pissed, in the Wigmore Hall about 20 years ago. I was on the front row and I could smell the booze.

I'm interested in the way substance induced altered states of mind inspire great art.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

EigenUser

No one has mentioned Hans Rott? I really liked his symphony when I heard it a few months ago.
Beethoven's Op. 133 -- A fugue so bad that even Beethoven himself called it "Grosse".

vandermolen

Agree about Lili Boulanger - a real tragedy. Also, Kurka, George Butterworth, Farrar, Finzi, Magnard.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

jochanaan

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 13, 2011, 06:28:09 PM
I need to explore some of Vivier's music as I heard it is quite good. Wasn't he a Spectralist?
Yes.  I have (or had; long story) his opera Marco Polo on DVD, and it is very interesting and very good.  Among other features, the instrumentalists (not in traditional "orchestra" numbers or configuration by any means) are expected to interact with the singers on stage. :o 8) ;D
Imagination + discipline = creativity

Mirror Image

Quote from: jochanaan on March 04, 2015, 08:02:38 AM
Yes.  I have (or had; long story) his opera Marco Polo on DVD, and it is very interesting and very good.  Among other features, the instrumentalists (not in traditional "orchestra" numbers or configuration by any means) are expected to interact with the singers on stage. :o 8) ;D

Pretty strange stuff, jochanaan.

Thread duty:

Not sure if he's been mentioned yet, but E. J. Moeran died in his 50s. Surely, he would have went on and composed a lot more music.

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 04, 2015, 03:49:53 PM
Pretty strange stuff, jochanaan.

Thread duty:

Not sure if he's been mentioned yet, but E. J. Moeran died in his 50s. Surely, he would have went on and composed a lot more music.

Perhaps but I think that Moeran was going a bit 'off the rails' by the time he fell off the pier at Kenmare.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Jo498

I think 55 cannot really count as "dying young" although it seems rather early for 20th century standards. The threshold is about 40, I'd say. Tragic as his decline and death were, I would not claim that Robert Schumann died "young" (at 46).
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on March 09, 2015, 08:47:31 AM
Perhaps but I think that Moeran was going a bit 'off the rails' by the time he fell off the pier at Kenmare.

Interesting. I'm not familiar with this story. When and how did Moeran fall off a pier?

Mirror Image

Quote from: springrite on May 14, 2011, 07:33:48 PM
Lili Boulanger and Lekeu are the first two names that comes to mind, although I suspect that had they both lived long lives, Boulanger would have given us more great music than Lekeu.

I don't agree. I think Lekeu would have continued to develop his idiom and while it may not have been as modernistic perhaps as Boulanger's at least we know where his heart is, especially when he says things such as this: "Joy is a thousand times harder to paint than suffering". My kind of composer.

Cato

Hans Rott certainly must be mentioned again.

Julius Reubke must also not be forgotten.

https://www.youtube.com/v/U9gCvM7PaYA

https://www.youtube.com/v/qNMWu2_T94g
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on March 09, 2015, 11:11:48 AM
Interesting. I'm not familiar with this story. When and how did Moeran fall off a pier?

Sorry John, just saw this. Many people thought that Moeran must have been drunk when he fell into the sea off the pier at Kenmare as he had an alcohol problem but I think that a post-mortem revealed that he'd had a heart attack. Sadly, he was not very balanced at the time ( no sick pun intended ). W Denis Browne was another who died much too young (killed in World War One).
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on July 31, 2015, 10:49:57 PM
Sorry John, just saw this. Many people thought that Moeran must have been drunk when he fell into the sea off the pier at Kenmare as he had an alcohol problem but I think that a post-mortem revealed that he'd had a heart attack. Sadly, he was not very balanced at the time ( no sick pun intended ). W Denis Browne was another who died much too young (killed in World War One).

No worries, Jeffrey. Thanks for the information.

starrynight

Quote from: Jo498 on March 09, 2015, 09:02:11 AM
I think 55 cannot really count as "dying young" although it seems rather early for 20th century standards. The threshold is about 40, I'd say. Tragic as his decline and death were, I would not claim that Robert Schumann died "young" (at 46).

Yes, young/early can be used interchangeably sometimes on threads like this.  Often it amounts to the same thing though in that people tend to be arguing over who would have produced the most substantial output had they lived longer.

Maybe a different view would be to contrast those who had promise but were never able to really bring it to fruition (died very young in their composing career) and those who did reach great standards but could have given us much more (died early before their muse had dried up). 

rhomboid


MusicTurner

#55
William Baines (23, more than 150 works, including some fine piano music)  wasn't mentioned.

Arvid Kleven (29), a Norwegian.

Roasted Swan

Vítězslava Kaprálová was a massive talent who died aged 25.  I haven't heard the recent Naxos discs but her music that was recorded on older Supraphon discs is of real distinction


relm1

Quote from: Roasted Swan on September 08, 2021, 01:34:15 PM
Vítězslava Kaprálová was a massive talent who died aged 25.  I haven't heard the recent Naxos discs but her music that was recorded on older Supraphon discs is of real distinction



How did she die so young?   :(

Mirror Image


T. D.

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 08, 2021, 06:51:09 PM
Tuberculosis I believe.

The Kapralova Society website (credited in above photo) is extensive, I've visited some pages before.

Website claims that the cause of death is not clear:

Main page says Despite her untimely death in 1940, from what was misdiagnosed as miliary tuberculosis, Kapralova left behind an impressive body of work.

Footnote 10 on the Life page says The latest research into possible causes of Kapralova's death suggests that she may have died of typhoid fever, caused by S. typhi bacteria. I am indebted to Dr Philip Mackowiak, professor emeritus of University of Maryland School of Medicine, for making this educated guess as to the etiology of Kapralova's fatal illness, which is based on Kapralova's original medical record from Saint-Eloi clinic in Montpellier, France.