We're all fascinated by their last works--what does it say about Mozart that he was working on the Requiem? Do we discern a true awareness of death in the last chamber works of Brahms?
So, why not their last words?
While comedians may traditionally tend to carry the day in terms of memorable one-liners on gravestones (for me, Spike Milligan's "Told you I was ill!" takes the biscuit), and statesmen and soldiers alike have their moments (but did Nelson really mean his final utterance to be "Kiss me, Hardy?"), composers tend to be clever, philosophical souls.
Make of these Five Best, then, what you will...
"Don't cry for me, for I go where music is born."
-- Johann Sebastian Bach
"Friends, applaud, the comedy is over."
-- Ludwig van Beethoven, disputed and let's face it, he'd have had to have been extremely composed (to coin a phrase) to come out with something this memorable. But in the spirit of great art, let's suspend disbelief.
"Mozart! Mozart!"
-- Gustav Mahler, demonstrating a level of professional courtesy above and beyond the call of duty.
"At last, now they are going to play my music."
-- Hector Berlioz, also disputed but, well, see under Ludwig van Beethoven.
"Now, I have finished with all earthly business, and high time, too. Yes, yes, my dear child, now comes death."
-- Franz Lehar, a rather appropriately upbeat tone for the operetta king.
