I wonder what the list members think about Mozart's artistry (this is,
I know, a very vague term but I suspect we all know its meaning).

With Beethoven and Wagner, to take two obvious examples, one feels that
there was a design there and a sense of destiny, best phrased, perhaps,
by Auden when he told his tutor at the age of 19 that he intended to be
a "great poet".

With Mozart, one often suspects that the cascade-like, explosive nature
of his gift prevented him from stepping back and seeing what it was that
he had been doing.

Any comments?

Jacek Niecko
Washington DC