getting worse as the go along

[BoliverAllmon]

I hear all these stories of how composers became better with age. That they matured in there writing. Is there a composer who you think was great in the beginning, but he simply got worse as he got older?

[Etude]

I wouldn't say he got worse, but I prefer Rachmaninov's romantic style to the more modern style he took on later in his life in the 4th concerto, and the paganini rhapsody.

[abe]

Some say that about Mendelssohn, that he was in his compositional prime in his teens (Rondo Capricioso, several overtures, etc). I'm not sure if I agree with that, he had some great works later on as well.

I can't really think of any other examples. Most composers it would seem get a little more experimental as they get older (or their style changes slightly with the changing trends, ie Beethoven, or Rachmaninoff as stated above), and I guess some could interepret this as either more developed or just more strange.

[anda]

schumann - at least in terms of piano-works. he started incredibly good - abegg, paganini etudes, carnival, davidsbundlertanze, kreisleriana, the sonatas, etc., all belong to his 1st creative period; then slowly went insane over his last years of life.

[BoliverAllmon]

I can agree with that one.

[thalbergmad]

I wouldn't say he got worse, but I prefer Rachmaninov's romantic style to the more modern style he took on later in his life in the 4th concerto, and the paganini rhapsody.

Superb example, completely agree.

[pianonut]

personally, i never liked busoni in his early compositions or later ones.  guess that doesn't fit the question.  possibly, in terms of maturing - saint-saens kinda stayed the same to me.  but - as a matter of fact - i still like him, from beginning to end. he played the organ,too. and,on the side, enjoyed astronomy.  i always hear planets and stars in his music. 

[ted]

I tend to think that the early Waller solos, "Blue Blackbottom", "Gladyse" and so on, recorded in his early twenties have a remarkable exuberance and drive which was not completely sustained in his later playing, which tended to be more formula driven and repetitive. All of his playing was excellent, but I do hear special things in his early pieces.