Jon Johanning wrote in reply to Stirling Newberry:

>On the other hand, one could argue (although I'm not sure I would want to
>very confidently) that in our time we have developed ways of dealing with
>such emotions, by therapy, etc., which work better for many people than
>music and other arts, so that sufferers who once relied on the greatest
>artists to help them deal with their suffering now tend to turn elsewhere.

I think this is looking at C19th art from too much of a C20th perspective.
The whole notion of "therapy" to deal with emotions would have been utterly
alien until the dawn of this century.  Nor would it have occured to people
to look to the arts for comfort in unhappiness.  Rather, artists of the
last century were expressing how it felt to live in that era, with all the
assumptions attendant thereon - and this is what seems "over-emotional" to
some when they encounter their art in our very different times.  IMHO.

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA