Why do composers stop playing?

You can't do everything and both things require a lot, a lot of time... the day only has 24 hours!

Not everyone, come on..

Zedef wrote:

Not everyone, come on..

Thinking about it, who instead continued ...?

Composers never stop playing..(only) their compositions. In the hope that no one is listening....

If we want to speak in clichés, then everyone can say whatever they want.

If we want to talk about the "great" contemporary names, most of them—contrary to what happened until the mid-1900s when composer and performer often coincided—do not/did not have solo instrumental training for various reasons, often linked to a "specular" language, detached from the repertoire that commonly characterizes an instrumentalist's path.

If we want to talk about "medium" names, instead, many, even if coming from a dual compositional and performing background, have not abandoned their instrument at all, perhaps without devoting themselves to it excessively since the main activity is composition: as Carlos rightly says, at a certain point one must also choose where to employ one's energy and time.

Anyway, just to stay in Italy: Sollima, Einaudi, Boccadoro, Lorenzini, Cascioli... (not to mention the jazz musicians)

Totally agree with Zedef. Today, the true composer-performers are almost exclusively jazz musicians: they compose and perform by improvising, much like the great composers of a few centuries ago.

Zedef wrote:

If we want to speak in clichés, then everyone can say whatever they want.

If we want to talk about the "great" contemporary names, most of them—contrary to what happened until the mid-1900s when composer and performer often coincided—do not/did not have solo instrumental training for various reasons, often linked to a "specular" language, detached from the repertoire that commonly characterizes an instrumentalist's path.

If we want to talk about "medium" names, instead, many, even if coming from a dual compositional and performing background, have by no means abandoned their instrument, perhaps without devoting themselves to it excessively since the main activity is composition: as Carlos rightly says, at a certain point one must also choose where to employ one's energy and time.

Anyway, just to stay in Italy: Sollima, Einaudi, Boccadoro, Lorenzini, Cascioli... (not to mention the jazz musicians)

Boesendorfer wrote:

Today, true composer-performers are almost exclusively jazz musicians: they compose and perform by improvising, much like the great composers of a few centuries ago.

It doesn't seem that way to me; when Bach or Chopin (etc.) composed, they put it on paper. Improvisation is music that unfolds in time but ends within that specific time.

Music written on paper, which is usually the work of a composer, remains and allows for various reinterpretations within the same notes... so it's better to just let Jazz musicians play...

From my point of view, a composer/performer is someone who writes music at the level of works like Liszt's B minor Sonata and is equally capable of playing works of the value of Liszt's B minor Sonata.

And I do not mean that they write and perform their own works, but that they write and perform works by others as well ...

Don't hate me, but Einaudi (see Le Onde) doesn't count for me... in the sense that playing his pieces doesn't even require a fifth of piano skill ...

Zedef wrote:

Cascioli...

Let's talk about it, it is also true that (see image)

Boesendorfer wrote:

Totally agree with Zedef. Today, the true composer-performers are almost exclusively jazz musicians: they compose and perform by improvising, just like the great composers of a few centuries ago.

Honest question... and do you think they will ever reach the heights of the great composers from less than a century ago?

I mean, find me someone who improvises Mahler's octave... or Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, for example, Bartok's concerto for two pianos and percussion, etc...

Here it is

To Dino's "honest" question, I answer that I have never thought that jazz pianists reach "the heights of the great composers from less than a century ago", (barring contrary opinion from some jazz lovers).

I tried to answer, in my own way, Barbara's question: "I have always wondered why composers stop playing?"

Otherwise, one always goes off-topic.

Why do composers stop playing?

Not everyone; some continue to play (see the answers from Zedef and Tiger).

The reason (answer to why): "You can't do everything and both things require a lot, a lot of time... the day only has 24 hours!" (Carlos).

In my life (69 years), I have had the fortune of knowing some composers who had been excellent pianists, but had almost stopped practicing the instrument in order to dedicate themselves exclusively to composition, teaching, or conducting, and when they sat at the piano, in private, they only performed their own compositions. One of them confided in me that he envied jazz pianists who

knew how to improvise and vary the theme so well.

Ok Boesendorfer...I got lost for a moment