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How long does genius music take to write?
Nadia Mair
June 19, 2025
Today, I want to discuss the subject of time.
Recently I interviewed composer Erich Stem, and we spoke about how long it takes him to compose a symphony and how much time he gives himself to do it (you can listen to that interview here if you’d like to know more).
It got me thinking about my own education — which was focused on film scoring.
Many of my courses at school emphasized the importance of time. When working on a film score, you often have to produce a large amount of music in a very short amount of time.
It almost never occurred to me that that’s not how the entire compositional world works.
In my head, I thought everyone who composed tried to do it as quickly as possible. But that’s simply not the case!
This got me thinking about the different ways we work as composers, as well as how composers worked in the past.
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake was composed between August 1875 - April 1876, resulting in around 2 hours of music.
Danny Elfman’s Mission: Impossible soundtrack was written in approximately 4 weeks, totalling roughly 64 minutes of music.
Here’s a chart to show you a side-by-side comparison of what timelines looked like then vs. now, and different types of jobs with their timelines:
Category | Time to Compose | Example |
|---|---|---|
19th Century Ballet (roughly 2 hours of music) | several months to over a year | Swan Lake, 8-10 months, 2 hrs of music |
Film/Media Scores (anywhere from 30min to 2 hrs of music) | 2 weeks - 6 months (usually 4-6 weeks) | Rogue One, 4 and a half weeks, 69 min of music Goldenthal: 2 weeks |
Game Scores (anywhere from 30min to 8 hrs of music) | 3 months - 3+ years | Red Dead Redemption 2, 4 yrs, around 6 hrs of music |
Contemporary Concert Works (varies) | Weeks to months (varies by composer) | The Exterminating Angel, an opera, 5 yrs blue cathedral, 12 min orchestral tone poem, 2 months |
Obviously there isn’t a written rule, and there are exceptions both now and in history for the timeline.
Still, it makes me wonder: does time matter when writing music?
What does it do if you let a piece sit for longer, allowing yourself years in the making of it?
Or on the other hand, what does a strict timeline with an approaching deadline do for your writing process?
Just food for thought.
Until next time,
Nadia