Extending their life by 20 years

[Fafner]

Mozart, Schubert and LvB, obviously - for reasons already mentioned.

Carl Maria von Weber and especially Puccini!  I would love to hear how they would develop in later years.
And Janáček. He was 74, but he was just getting started for real!

[TheGSMoeller]

How about a living composer? I hope to see Philip Glass compose for another 20 years, just turned 75, much longer than many of the deceased mentioned here, but he is still as prolific as ever.

Prokofiev - died at 61 years of age I believe. His body of work is so dynamic with so many alterations (his 7 1/2 symphonies are quite diverse in themselves) I would have loved to hear an 8th or 9th symphony, perhaps a few more solo piano pieces (some of his greatest output).

Others mentioned here - Schubert, Webern, Berg.

[Lisztianwagner]

Mozart, Schubert, Mahler, and LvB, obviously - for reasons already mentioned.

+1

Richard Wagner. I really wonder how his music would have developed if he had lived longer; in his operas, Wagner doesn't break up with tonality, but he takes it to extremes; I think he could have certainly arrived to atonality earlier than Schönberg.
Josef Strauss. He was only 43 when he died, but he was able to develop an extremely poetical, expressive style, often deep, melancholic and inclined to instrospection, more than his brothers'. He might have provably become the most talented member of the family if he hadn't died so early (even Schani said so).

[snyprrr]

We'll all have a laugh over it, when the Delius phase passes.

Hey, he has risen the GDP .00213% on his contributions alone!

But yea, it's all quite funny. Should we take bets on who the next object d'amour is? I'll take a wild guess and say Rumsfeld, uh, Rasputin, I mean Takemitsu.

[calyptorhynchus]

Yes all the usuals, and

Ernest Farrer and George Butterworth.... not to be killed in the trenches.

Pavel Haas.... not to be murdered in a Nazi death camp.

Gerald Finzi, so he could give us a few more works like the Cello Concerto (Symphony anyone?)

E J Moeran, so he could finish the 2nd Symphony.

Hans Rott, so he could write another few Symphonies and String Quartets.

[Cato]

Yes all the usuals, and

Ernest Farrer and George Butterworth.... not to be killed in the trenches.

Reminds me of Jehan Alain who was killed in WWII.

[North Star]

Something missing from this thread ... Chopin! Just imagine - 1810-1869 instead of '49... He could have arrived at atonality, too...

Others: Pergolesi, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Janacek.

[Brian]

I very much like the nominations of Schulhoff, Pavel Haas, Janacek, Bizet, and if someone has said it, Shostakovich - who would have seen the fall of Communism. I want to comment on Neal's suggestion:

Norbert Burgmuller. Wonderful music started to emerge and he was dead at such a young age.

A very interesting one. Here was my recent take on Burgmuller for MusicWeb: "Norbert Burgmüller had considerable promise as a composer before dying at age 26. ...Schumann no doubt also knew about the overture, which might be my favorite piece here. Still, Burgmüller was not really capable of writing memorable tunes, which is why his music often sounds like Schubert without the depth or memorable substance. Then again, Schubert lived to 31. Burgmüller didn't even have that good fortune."

[Bogey]

Mozart, fer shure. The late operas and symphonies especially betoken unrealized riches, and I cannot help but wonder what music would be like if both he and Beethoven were influencing one another over the next 20+ years.

Some irony in me typing, "And the Requiem!  He would have finished the Requiem!"

[Cato]

... Shostakovich - who would have seen the fall of Communism.

Oh yes, and even the looser 1980's under Gorbachev: what effect would that have had on his soul? 

The answer would seem obvious...but given his past experiences, he might have stayed very mistrustful of glasnost, unable to believe that the Iron Curtain would actually fall.

But who knows?

[mc ukrneal]

I very much like the nominations of Schulhoff, Pavel Haas, Janacek, Bizet, and if someone has said it, Shostakovich - who would have seen the fall of Communism. I want to comment on Neal's suggestion:

A very interesting one. Here was my recent take on Burgmuller for MusicWeb: "Norbert Burgmüller had considerable promise as a composer before dying at age 26. ...Schumann no doubt also knew about the overture, which might be my favorite piece here. Still, Burgmüller was not really capable of writing memorable tunes, which is why his music often sounds like Schubert without the depth or memorable substance. Then again, Schubert lived to 31. Burgmüller didn't even have that good fortune."

I think you need to re-evaluate this (the bolded). Have you heard the first symphony? It is full of melody (just listen to the third movement - great stuff, not to mention the first or fourth movement)! (and not to mention some of his chamber works or piano sonata). That MDG disc is quite good in my opinion and a nice way to get into Burgmuller (though I still recommned the Sterling disc with Symphony No. 1 most of all).

[Rinaldo]

Kapralova. So much promise.

PURCELL!

Claude Vivier.

And most definitely Mozart.

[springrite]

Carter, because I would love to be able to follow a living composer for another twenty years.


But more serious answers from me would be Mahler and Schubert and I do occasionally wonder what Lekeu might have done. Maybe nothing. Then again, maybe very very interesting.

[ibanezmonster]

Something missing from this thread ... Chopin! Just imagine - 1810-1869 instead of '49... He could have arrived at atonality, too...

Well... then Scriabin might not have been so original at the time. 

[North Star]

Well... then Scriabin might not have been so original at the time. 

Or maybe he would have been even more 'out there' (hopefully just musically...) 

[Dax]

Skalkottas - is nobody on this board familiar with his work or appreciative of what he achieved?
1940 - the 32 piano pieces and the 4th quartet for starters.

[Ten thumbs]

Some good suggestions here, to which I will add both Mendelssohns. Fanny had just begun to publish and she would have gained the notice that she deserved. Who knows what the dialogue between the two might have produced, given another twenty years? For one thing, I think Felix would have been driven to much more adventurous harmony.

[dyn]

Lekeu, Julian Scriabin, Pergolesi, Stanchinsky etc. Give a few more years to those who didn't get enough of them. >.>

More selfishly i'd pick Vivier, Barraqué, Grisey and Beethoven for first priority. i wanna hear the set of string quartets that would have started with Op. 135.

[Brian]

I think you need to re-evaluate this (the bolded). Have you heard the first symphony? It is full of melody (just listen to the third movement - great stuff, not to mention the first or fourth movement)! (and not to mention some of his chamber works or piano sonata). That MDG disc is quite good in my opinion and a nice way to get into Burgmuller (though I still recommned the Sterling disc with Symphony No. 1 most of all).

I shall re-evaluate at my leisure, but also with pleasure! Can you recommend an album of the chamber works? I have heard the First Symphony on Carus (HIP).

[madaboutmahler]

Karlo and I were talking about this subject a few days and I instantly came out with Gershwin. His music is just so enjoyable so I find it such a shame that there can't be more of it to listen to, and he could have written so much more.... symphonies perhaps! I can just imagine it..... would have been fantastic I'm sure.... such a shame! I'll just have to make do with listen to the Levine disc over and over again :p