Which five composers do you wish had another five years to live?

[JohnP]

Thomas Linley
G. F. Pinto
Purcell
Finzi
G.Butterworth

[aukhawk]

Alkan - with a note to avoid tall bookcases.
Lully - with a note to abandon his staff and adopt the new-fangled baton.

[brunumb]

I really, really, really want Puccini to finish Turandot.

[Madiel]

Interesting that there are different ideas about the "obvious" ones! I would say the "obvious ones", which may or may not be my own choices, would be great composers who died young. So
Schubert
Mozart
Debussy

Would seem to top the list. Is there a list here with all 3?

2 out of 3. I decided I had enough Mozart. 

[vandermolen]

After hearing Lili Boulanger's 'Pour Les Funerailles d'un Soldat' live in London last night it confirms my choice of her. A great talent cut off aged 24.

In fact I wish that Lili Boulanger had lived for an additional sixty years.

[Florestan]

Mozart
Schubert
Chopin
Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff

[kyjo]

Rachmaninoff

I hadn't thought of him, but an excellent choice, despite the fact that he lived a reasonably long life. If those Symphonic Dances are anything to go by, he could've churned out a couple more masterpieces had he lived five more years.

[Madiel]

Rachmaninov crossed my mind, but I decided that what he needed wasn't more years but more time in the years that he already had.

[relm1]

Rachmaninov crossed my mind, but I decided that what he needed wasn't more years but more time in the years that he already had.

This is a very interesting point.  Some composers squandered their years and others were robbed of them.  If Sibelius who lived to be 91 had five more years what would that have mattered?  Meanwhile had Lili Boulanger lived 50 more years what would she have achieved since she was only 25 years old when she died and showed so much mastery? 

[Ken B]

Schubert
Mozart
Debussy
Purcell
Chopin

There were certainly a lot of talents who died before 30 — Arriaga, Lekeu, Boulanger, Ives (brain death) — but I am looking at sure things.

And Andrei, not Weber?

[Florestan]

And Andrei, not Weber?

Ooops, I forgot about him. Yes, Weber too.

[vandermolen]

I hadn't thought of him, but an excellent choice, despite the fact that he lived a reasonably long life. If those Symphonic Dances are anything to go by, he could've churned out a couple more masterpieces had he lived five more years.

+1

[Madiel]

This is a very interesting point.  Some composers squandered their years and others were robbed of them. 

For Rachmaninov, he spent most of his time after he left Russia as a performer, rather than a composer. He spent all of his time touring. This was how he was able to earn a living (having lost most of his former possessions), but it severely curtailed his composing.

[relm1]

For Rachmaninov, he spent most of his time after he left Russia as a performer, rather than a composer. He spent all of his time touring. This was how he was able to earn a living (having lost most of his former possessions), but it severely curtailed his composing.

But also like Sibelius - 5 more years wouldn't have really added much to his body of works.  He probably still wouldn't have finished No. 8.

[DaveF]

Carl Nielsen - We know this master intended composing five concertos for the wind quintet instruments (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and french horn), of which he could complete the first two. His style was taking new paths with his 6th Symphony. It would have been interesting if he had composed more works.

Yes, got to have him on the list, although I'm not sure we'd have got any more concerti; it seems as though his interest flagged after the first one (flute) and he had to be bullied into writing the one for clarinet (luckily Oxenvad the clarinettist was a bully).  But the 6th symphony, the 3 motets and Commotio seem to point the way to something quite new.

And I want more Gibbons - 20 years for him.

[relm1]

Three more from me...

* Lepo Sumera who at 50 died way too young and I love his music so much. 
* Arthur Butterworth who died at the age of 91 was extremely prolific up to the end.  I wish he had written more because I love his output...it is sort of like an amalgamation of post Sibelius/Vaughan Williams/Bax.
* Derek Bourgeois who died a year ago and was a friend of mine.  I miss him and his amazing compositional skills. 

[vandermolen]

Three more from me...

* Lepo Sumera who at 50 died way too young and I love his music so much. 
* Arthur Butterworth who died at the age of 91 was extremely prolific up to the end.  I wish he had written more because I love his output...it is sort of like an amalgamation of post Sibelius/Vaughan Williams/Bax.
* Derek Bourgeois who died a year ago and was a friend of mine.  I miss him and his amazing compositional skills.

Definitely agree with Sumera who died much too young. His Second Symphony, in particular, is a magnificent work - 'modern music with a soul' in my opinion. Arthur Butterworth's 4th Symphony is terrific with an ending which has me on the edge of my seat. I like the quotation from Sibelius's 'The Tempest' as well. Don't know much about Derek Bourgeois but interesting that he was your friend.

[Karl Henning]

* Derek Bourgeois who died a year ago and was a friend of mine.  I miss him and his amazing compositional skills. 

I'd like to hear something!

[relm1]

I'd like to hear something!

You might like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLnAHa2aBmk

and he is very big in the brass world. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2a5A-y4L7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYRolAFz3WQ

His style is very British so if you like William Walton, George Lloyd, Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howell, Malcolm Arnold, etc., you should find much to enjoy here.  He had the same post at St. Paul's Girl's school as Gustav Holst and even had the same office/desk and similarly to Holst's St. Paul's Suite, Bourgeois wrote many works for students and competitions.  He was music director/founder of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.  His teachers at Cambridge included Herbert Howells and Sir Adrian Boult.  The symphonies before No. 7 were all performed and broadcast by various BBC orchestras.  In 2002, after Symphony No. 7, he retired and focused full time on composing without much concern if his music would be performed.  This is point where his output exploded.  He wrote 109 more symphonies from 2002 to 2017.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks!