Peter Goldstein

>Mozart-my favorite topic!  Here are my thoughts on some of the posts from
>yesterday (unfortunately I deleted some accidentally so I'm not always sure
>who said what--my apologies there).

My least favourite but what the heck!

>I don't know enough about psychology to know exactly how an idiot savant's
>mind works, but I think we are too ready to turn Mozart into some sort
>of enchanted child.  His letters reveal a remarkably normal person:
>intelligent, playful, fussy, somewhat too prideful, aware of his abilities,
>anxious to prove himself, desirous of independence and appreciation.  As
>near as we can tell, he had a remarkable ability to compose in his head,
>but that doesn't mean he didn't have to work at it.

I see Mozart as (what we would call today) a hot-housed composer.  For
those not familiar with this term let me explain.  Hot-housing is the
process of attempting to advance one's child by giving them tuition from
an extremely early age.

For me this explains the apparent prodigy of composers like
Mozart/Mendellsohn and 10 year old "genius" mathematicians.  What these
people have in common is not superior genes.  They have superior social
advantage.  Hence we find most doctors are sons of doctors because that's
all they know.

I believe that this is Mozart's misfortune and explains why he was such
a bland and boring composer.  You see he had no option but to assimulate
(copy) other composer's styles (just like Mendellsohn did), the child's
mind is just not developed enough to be creative.

Hot-housing thus has a destructive effect on the subject.  The child
mathematician grows up to be able to solve complex differential equations
but can't produce anything new.  The composer (Mozart) grows to produce
excellent counterpoint but is stuck forever with the styles of others.
Both no nothing else.  They have not be taught to think merely emulate
and perform for adults.

Incidentally, there is a very high suicide rate in these child
"prodigies" when they get older.

In contrast the Haydn brothers had a deprived childhood.  Their father was
a wheelwright and although the family enjoyed music at home it was crude.
Jospeh Haydn learn't to play a drum when he was five.  At an age when
Mozart was writing music.

Only when the brothers Haydn went to the church school in Vienna did they
come across written music and then they were approaching puberty.  Joseph
did not learn much in composition until his late teens.

But this is Joseph Haydn's advantage and explains why he bacame the
greatest most creative composer of all in my opinion.

Hence:

>But Glenn Miller is right to say that Mozart was a brilliant assimilator;

Bears out my theory

>But he's right to say Mozart is never less than competent-I think
>it's a myth that his early works are bad.  In fact, once you get past the
>ultra-juvenilia, most are pretty good.  Not terribly profound, perhaps, but
>entertaining, and in a league with the better minor composers of his time.

Yes but you could say that about dozens of composers.  But their works
aren't taking up valuable space in CDs stores!!

Bob Draper
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