Composers with the technical ability, application, mental concentration and sheer physical strength to compose a symphony do not usually leave it at that unless circumstances prevent them from writing a second. Often these unfavourable circumstances centre round public and professional apathy, poor presentation of their efforts, bad reviews, or a combination of these factors. In both cases under consideration here, it was the tragedy of early death that interrupted highly promising careers that might well have witnessed a whole succession of fine symphonies. Jan Václav Voríšek was only thirty-four (a year younger than Mozart) when death claimed him, and Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola (to give him his full name) died just ten days short of his twentieth birthday.