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Classical Music 4 Haters's avatar

Great article. I really enjoyed it. It makes one wonder why these composers went in a direction that differed from what made them successful. Boredom? The need for a challenge? Something else?

I would add 'Festive Overture' by Shostakovich to this list as well. I recently wrote an article about this piece, and mentioned how it is an outlier in his canon - so much of his work is drenched in dissonance, while 'Festive' is almost exclusively celebratory.

Mr Figaro's avatar

Thank you! I guess the pieces I wrote about were written at either a special circumstance (Mozart, Puccini) or at the beginning/end of the composer’s career (Debussy, Verdi and Rossini). I suspect they were different people themselves from the time they wrote their main body of work.

I’ll check out your article. Thank you for pointing it out.