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In our June issue prodigies take centre stage as we name the ten best child composers. But whowere the composers who bided their time and produced their masterpieces in later life? RebeccaFranks finds out

Leos Janek (1854-1928)An organist and schoolteacher by trade, Janeks first piece Exaudi was published when he was22. But it wasnt until the Prague premiere of his opera Jenfa in 1916 that Janek, then 62, beganto establish his reputation.

In the final decade of his life the Moravian-born composer penned some of his most enduring andinventive masterpieces, including the Sinfonietta and the Glagolitic Mass.

Crucial to Janek's late burst of creativity was his passionate but unrequited love for KamilaStosslova, a married woman 35 years his junior. Janek's infatuation with Stosslova, whom he metin 1917, found its expression in the strong female characters in his final three operas.

Late masterpiece:Sinfonietta (1926)

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) Like Janek, Bruckner began his career as an organist and schoolteacher. One of Europes finestorganists, he held a post at the renowned St Florian Cathedral in Linz, Austria, where as a churchcomposer he wrote his first works.

From the start of his working life, Bruckner studied theory and composition alongside hisprofessional duties.

But it wasnt until he heard a performance of Wagners Tannhuser in 1863 that he felt liberated fromthe compositional rules he had studied so laboriously. Bruckner began to write symphonies on aWagnerian scale and his massive orchestral edifices, rooted in his devout Catholicism, remainmasterpieces in the canon.

Late masterpieces:Symphonies Nos 1-9

Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) Another composer who took wing after hearing Wagner was Emmanuel Chabrier. Though a giftedamateur pianist, as a young man Chabrier didnt consider the idea of becoming a professionalmusician.

Late-blooming composers

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Instead he took a post in the civil service and surrounded himself with a circle of artistic friends thatincluded many Impressionist painters.

Then in 1879 his friend the composer Henri Duparc took him to hear Tristan und Isolde in Munich.Chabrier, profoundly moved, quit his job and turned to full-time composing. His Dix picespittoresques, hugely admired by Ravel and Poulenc, and his ever-popular orchestral rhapsodyEspaa, date from this first flush of inspiration.

Late masterpieces:Dix pices pittoresques (1881); Espaa (1883)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)When his opera Aida was premiered in 1871, Verdi was 58. With 26 operas behind him he at thatpoint lay down his operatic pen and turned his attention to revising earlier works and composing theRequiem.

But eight years later Verdis thoughts turned back to opera and he began sketching ideas for Otello.He finished the work, based on Shakespeares play, when he was 73 and it was an instant success.

Verdi soon began to compose another Shakespearian-inspired work, Falstaff and in his 80th year,his final, comic masterpiece was first heard.

Late masterpieces:Otello (1886); Falstaff (1893)

Elliott Carter (1908-)With his 101st birthday at the end of the year, this American composer laysclaim to being one of the worlds oldest working composers. Carter initiallystudied English and maths at Harvard before the encouragement of thecomposer Charles Ives convinced him to head to Paris to study with NadiaBoulanger.

On his return to America, Carter began to make his mark, winning thePulitzer Prize in 1960 for his Second String Quartet, and writing the DoubleConcerto hailed by Stravinsky as an American masterpiece.

Carters last decade has been exceptionally fruitful. Premieres includeInterventions, Dialogues for piano and large ensemble, Three Illusions forOrchestra; in 2007 alone he wrote seven new pieces. And after his 90th

birthday Carter wrote his first opera a work called What Next?

Late masterpieces:Interventions (2008); Dialogues for piano and large ensemble (2003); Three Illusions for Orchestra(2004); What Next? (1999)

To find out which composers were the greatest child prodigies, take a look at our June issue. And letus know your thoughts by voting in our poll.

Audio clip: Janek: Sinfonietta Fanfares (BBC Music Magazine Cover Disc, February 2009)

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