Barrett Reynolds writes:

>I can't think of one example of a late-blooming classical composer.  If
>any of you can think of some, I'd love to hear them.  It would give me
>great encouragement!"

classic late-bloomer, in a sense, was Leos Janacek.  He was a practising
musician from youth, a church organist and choral conductor in Brno. He
wrote music from his twenties on, but his early compositions, such as
the Idyll for string orchestra, are agreeable but distinctly minor.
Janacek broke into really new ground only in middle age, first with his
operas.  He spent his 40s composing Jenufa, which was first performed
after he was 50, and the other major operas came later.  Some of these
operas, as well as his most distinguished compositions outside of
opera---the two fascinating quartets, the wind sextet "Mladi", the Diary
of One Who Disappeared, the Sinfonietta, and the Glagolitic Mass---were
the work of a senior citizen, over 70 in the case of the latter two.
That should give encouragement to many of our List members.

Jon Gallant  and  Dr. Phage  ([log in to unmask])