Today, I began watching the Hazelwood BBC documentary on Mozart c/o YouTube - The Genius of Mozart. Old news to many, perhaps, but as an ex-patriot, I'd missed it. Anyway, I was struck by something about Mozart's childhood precocity - a scene showing the four-year old Mozart doing mathematical sums with a piece of chalk on any available surface - tables, chairs, floors. He is then sets about writing his first keyboard concerto.
Now, I don't know enough about W.A.M. to know whether this is an apocryphal tale that has long since been dispelled.
However, what interested me was two things:
First, a comment beneath the video suggesting that such behaviour would now be deemed ADHD and the child prescribed Ritolin to rid him of his disruptive behaviour. I wonder if that fairly dodgy notion of posthumous diagnosis has been performed on Mozart, citing him as being somewhere on the autistic spectrum.
Secondly, this notion of precocity and 'genius'. Both Bach and Beethoven, amazing musicians, couldn't resist the urge to create - Bach gussying up organ recitals in the church; Beethoven incurring the wrath of his father with his improvisations.
I wonder if anyone has looked at the patterns of behaviour behind child prodigies and "genius". Not all precociously-gifted children go on to leave huge bodies of work behind, whatever their chosen art form.
How, then, to account for such preternatural abilities? One thinks of the notion of the 'divine spark'. Is there a will to create that some people are possessed by? Could any such prodigy be allowed to become such a creative figure today? Why don't more musical prodigies go on to be creative talents rather than just exceptional performers?
Now, I don't know enough about W.A.M. to know whether this is an apocryphal tale that has long since been dispelled.
However, what interested me was two things:
First, a comment beneath the video suggesting that such behaviour would now be deemed ADHD and the child prescribed Ritolin to rid him of his disruptive behaviour. I wonder if that fairly dodgy notion of posthumous diagnosis has been performed on Mozart, citing him as being somewhere on the autistic spectrum.
Secondly, this notion of precocity and 'genius'. Both Bach and Beethoven, amazing musicians, couldn't resist the urge to create - Bach gussying up organ recitals in the church; Beethoven incurring the wrath of his father with his improvisations.
I wonder if anyone has looked at the patterns of behaviour behind child prodigies and "genius". Not all precociously-gifted children go on to leave huge bodies of work behind, whatever their chosen art form.
How, then, to account for such preternatural abilities? One thinks of the notion of the 'divine spark'. Is there a will to create that some people are possessed by? Could any such prodigy be allowed to become such a creative figure today? Why don't more musical prodigies go on to be creative talents rather than just exceptional performers?
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