ABSTRACT
Everyone dies too soon for someone, but not even every genius dies too soon for art, early though he may die for his years. Musically speaking, for example, Mendelssohn died almost too late, whereas not only Schubert, but also Beethoven died earlier than Mozart. It is not alone a question of development attained, but also of development attainable. Beethoven travelled unfathomably far, but as we begin to understand his latest works we fathom that he could have travelled far further. With Schoenberg it seems exactly the same. But in addition, he was born too early. It was really his premature birth which the newspaper obituaries, unintentionally, mourned.
