Hello... I am asking this to various forums of Piano World... If you were Mozart right now... and... you heard someone play your famous favorite piano composition you composed yourself... as Mozart...
They were very good... but.. it was not at all as you intended it to be played ... yet... you knew this indeed was your composition...What are you thinking now as Mozart?
I would be so happy ...as Mozart ...that after all these years... my compositions still inspire a pianist to be creative...Sandy B

I'd be very happy that someone else was playing my music, and I'd also be very interested to hear the pianist's own interpretation.

I already know how I interpret my music. What I want to know is how do other musicians interpret my music.

Dear pianojerome...Me too...The same if I created a masterpiece painting and someone copied mine and made changes that were pleasing... Why not? Most of us love being mentors in the art world...For years towards the end,35 years, of my interior decorating vocation I loved taking new people under my wing...an honor for me when they were talented...To copy or imitate is the ultimate compliment? I heard this somewhere years ago... Sandy B

Having arranged a few things myself, I do not like it when people screw it up and play it not at all as I intended.

Maybe if I was Mozart I'd see it differently, but I doubt it.

not completely sure what you mean by 'not intended it to be played'. You mean a piece you're written to be played slowly is played at superfast speed? Or a baroque-style piece is played with Romantic-rubato? I guess it would annoy me if the music had a particular emotional attachment for me (like I'd written a piece commemorating a dear friend and it's played ragtime style) but otherwise, interpretaion is an essential part of musical performance so I'm always happy to hear other people perform my compositions and hear what they do with them.

I once made a complete mess of this though - I was conducting a choir performing a short work, the composer of that work was singing in the choir. For some reason I was very nervous, and the piece slowed down and down and down, lurching from beat to beat. Yuck. I learnt a lot from that experienec.

#2

I will be pleased that they still play my music.

Example.

I wrote a short piece this summer. It was inspired by Arabic coffee-grinding, and so I play it very quickly. However, several people who have heard it (my mother included) have suggested playing it much more slowly - my mom says it reminds her of camels moping along in the desert. So, slow camels or fast coffee grinding: either way, I don't mind. I personally play it rather quickly, and that is how I initially 'intended' it, but it would not bother me at all if someone played it slowly to evoke images of camels. In fact, I think it would sound very nice played slowly, too.

I would be...surprised at first, and be very honored and complimented that someone would play my piece still, after all the years. And I would be impressed.

Because they would have the GUTS to add their heart and soul to my song.

If I were Mozart today aged 250 or so, I would be so overwhelmed by the fantastic pianos we have, compared to what I had used to compose on. And that I could see and hear the other composers work that followed me since my untimely death.

Alan

Alan, Really... I am still laughing...I love English humor...Enjoyed your post...Sandy B.

I often question myself: Will Mozart understand todays music, or the 20th century great genius' music?

How will Mozart react after hearing Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto?
or
How will Mozart react after hearing Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto on iPod?

If Mozart came back from the dead today (the proper way, not like a zombie) I think he'd ditch the piano and pick up a nice computer. The computer is the most interesting musical instrument to be invented in a long time, and certainly someone like Mozart would want to push it to its limitations. Which is probably heresy on a piano forum, but that's what I would do if I were Mozart coming back from the dead.

I would say: "cities have become chaotic and people dress funny"
And why is everyone so fascinated about old-fashioned music anyway?? we didn't play ricercares and medieval chants so often back then.
anyway, I thought Beethoven would write at least a couple of dozen symphonies... I died young and wrote 68 (yes I've been writing already since I came back from the dead)

I think it would be different as Debussy or Chopin rather than Mozart or Haydn if you know what I mean. Mozart's music can be dual-used as a metronome where as Debussy or Chopin/Liszt is almost all rubato. Chopin would be furious, Mozart would be satisfied with SOMEONE's version of his songs.

Plus, Mozart was a giggly, happy, fun party animal.

If I would spend a lot of energy on each and every note and work a piece to absolute perfection I would probably completely and utterly enraged if I'd hear someone play it even slightly differently. I'd probably much rather have them write their own tunes and leave mine alone.

I just sang in the requiem and the Trombone solo on Tuba Mirim had big time problems on it...

I don't think Mozart would have been happy with what happened but perhaps he'd have felt bad for the poor fellow who was playing his heart out in rehersals and hitting it ... only to have the solo go awry in the actual concert.

It is not an easy solo btw for a trombone player (trombone is the sacred instrument in the Mozart Requiem). Accidents happen.