Early works often do not endure for very long. What sixteen year old, provided he is not Mozart or Mendelssohn, writes masterpieces? Most composers regard their first tentative attempts at music as "youthful follies" which they keep for nostalgic reasons at best but by no means include among their "true" oeuvre. Posterity judges them more leniently. - Andrea Zschunke - English translation by Donald & Helga Haynes