Like die at 34.
Like write for the voice
Yeah, cuz no one's ever heard of the Ode to Joy or the Choral Fantasy. The former is the most powerful piece of choral music ever written. And the second is a dress rehearsal for the first.
and make everything seem organic and not merely inserted for shock value
Right. "Shock value," like what Wagner and Handel and Bach wrote ... What you call "shock value" I call "majesty."
...and was a better orchestrator.
Arguable. But so what? Beethoven was a composer, not an arranger.
Mozart had a gift. Beethoven was touched by God.
The vocal writing in the Ode to Joy is simply brutal. Ask anyone who has sung in it. Verdi thought it was inept. And Verdi knew a lot more about writing for the voice than Beethoven did. The Choral Fantasy is a cliche addled and third rate. Mozart never wrote any bad music. Beethoven wrote a fair amount of it. The point is that Beethoven’s music has flaws. Mozart’s does not. I would put both Bach and Mozart above Beethoven.