 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: FT
Date: 2002-01-21 17:37
Is it a curse or something???(just kidding)
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Author: Emms
Date: 2002-01-21 17:41
Just a hundred years ago, we didn't even have antibiotics. Many people died young. Not just composers!
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Author: sarah
Date: 2002-01-21 17:48
Yes, people would die from simple problems that we might take asprin for. This along with unsanitary conditions and poor diets contributed to many early deaths.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-21 17:58
Riding in open horse drawn carriages in the winter while being dragged all across Europe by your father doesn't do much for your over-all health either...GBK
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-01-21 18:15
Though many did live to a ripe old age. Try Bach, Hayden, and Verdi.
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-01-21 18:22
I'm told that people passing Mozart's tomb hear his clarinet concerto being played backwards. Explanation--He is decomposing.
Bob A
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2002-01-21 20:32
I have a joke theory regarding the Clarinet Curse. So many composers wrote music for clarinet and then died soon afterwards. I mean, Brahms, Mozart, Saint-Saens (I think), Gordon Jacob, Poulenc and some others all wrote something for clarinet right before their deaths.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-21 20:53
Even worse - I have heard clarinet performances of Brahms, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Gordon Jacob and Poulenc that have left the audience close to death...GBK
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Author: Pam
Date: 2002-01-21 22:00
I remember reading that Mozart (his wife actually) had quite a number of children, but only a few survived childhood.
Bob A. - Ha Ha Ha That's pretty good.
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Author: William
Date: 2002-01-21 22:06
That "erasing" sound coming from Beethovans tomb--also decomposition. Sorry, Bob, I just couldn't resist.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-01-22 02:50
Ussing the known birth/death years from my Composition database:
<pre>
Born between Average age Median age Samples
1500-1524 56.00 56.0 1
1525-1549 68.00 68.0 2
1550-1574 63.00 63.0 1
1575-1599 66.50 65.0 4
1600-1624 51.00 51.0 1
1625-1649 55.00 55.0 1
1650-1674 58.60 60.0 5
1675-1699 69.62 72.0 13
1700-1724 64.00 64.0 10
1725-1749 67.00 70.5 24
1750-1774 62.96 65.0 47
1775-1799 64.09 66.5 44
1800-1824 64.91 67.0 33
1825-1849 67.02 64.0 45
1850-1874 69.62 72.0 76
1875-1899 74.30 76.0 157
1900-1924 67.70 69.0 133
1925-1949 53.26 48.0 19
</pre>
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2002-01-22 04:07
We take our modern advances in medical science for granted and often are frustrated that it can't do even more. But indeed not very long ago lifespan was much shorter. My grandmother died in 1973 at 66 from heart failure. Today she would have had a by-pass and likely lived another 10 years or more. My wife's mother died in 1967 at 39 of a cerebral hemorage. Today the cause would have been detected by an MRI at the first sign of symptoms. At the present rate of increase in lifespan, the elementary school kids posting on this board might well expect to live into their 90s or beyond.
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Author: Rene
Date: 2002-01-22 06:10
Be careful with statistics, unless you have faked it yourself.
The average age includes children and young men. If someone lived long enough to get a known composer, the average life he could expect, is already close to ours. Well, at least if you call something between 10 to 15 years close. I tend to disagree now I get into this age range!
The above composer statistics has a statistical problem, since known composers are often known because they composed enough to get known, which means they tend to be old before they come on the list. Only a few are such geniuses to become famous when they are young, like Schubert and Mozart.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-22 06:39
Rene said:
"Only a few are such geniuses to become famous when they are young, like Schubert and Mozart."
There were MANY more than just Schubert and Mozart.
How about:
1. Busoni
2. Franck
3. Prokofiev
4. Korngold
5. Mendelssohn
6. Albeniz
7. Morton Gould
8. Amy Beach
Oh... I almost forgot one other name.....Beethoven ...GBK
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Author: Emms
Date: 2002-01-22 09:05
From the above statistics, it looks as though composers generally died later than other people of their era. (Except for the 20th century). It was probably an easier job than many of the more manual ones, which killed men off earlier.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-01-22 13:02
Emms wrote:
>
> From the above statistics, it looks as though composers
> generally died later than other people of their era.
As someone else pointed out - 'taint necessarily so. If you ignore one side of the curve (by only measuring ages more or less after 30) the average and median will rise significantly. The two numbers can't really be compared.
>(Except
> for the 20th century). It was probably an easier job than many
> of the more manual ones, which killed men off earlier.
Another statistical fluke - there are a lot of living composers right now from the 1st quarter of the 20th century. Since they haven't died, they're not being counted yet!
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Author: Emms
Date: 2002-01-22 18:05
Mark wrote:
> if you ignore one side of the curve, the average and median will rise significantly. the two numbers can't really be compared.
Yes I agree. I was just making an observation. In the 1600 and 1700, most people died by about 40 to 50. These results just indicate to me that the composers probably lived to a riper old age than most. Without proper statistics it is difficult to make any proper judgements.
Didn't have my thinking cap on when I read the 20th century results!
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-22 23:33
There are rules of reciprocity that apply to everything we know in life, it has, often, especially applied to genius level humans. An analogy I've heard on the subject states:
"A light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long."
It's not carved in stone, there are enough notable exceptions (like Johann Sebastian Bach, just to mention a few ):-))) but, generally speaking, there it is!
And as far as 20th century composers born earlier in the century, you can't compare Burt Bacharach to Brahms either.
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