Appendix to Previous Upload - Brahms - Schumann - F.A.E., etc

Appendix to Previous Upload - Brahms - Schumann - F.A.E., etc.

Schumann

Kreisleriana, Op. 16

Walter Gieseking, Piano

(Recital Records, 1975; German radio recording, 1942)

In the previous upload, there is a reference made in the documentation to a chapter from Born Under Saturn - A Documented History from Antiquity to the French Revolution by Rudolf and Margot Wittkower. The chaper is called "Genius, Madness and Melancholy" and illuminates (as no other source I know) the notions of mental illness and creative activity which finally influenced the thinking of Schumann, Schumann's circle - indeed, the entire artistic / intellectual scene of the 19th Century - and up to the present moment.

I only thought of including "Genius, Madness and Melancholy" later ... but here it is together with what is probably the most famous treatment of so-called "madness" in music.

Below is my review of Born Under Saturn at Amazon (the book has been described as "a gossipy romp", "hilarious", entertaining, etc.):
_______________________________________________

I have my copy of this book since the late 1960's - and have to consider it one of the few important texts I've encountered in my specialized field of art history. So, unlike many who like to be entertained by books, I usually consult books for the information and insights I find in them which are not to be found in exactly the same form in other books. This is especially true, for example, for the long chapter in Born Under Saturn with the title: "Genius, Madness and Melancholy". I want to quote from the beginning of this chapter in order to illustrate just how "gossipy", "fun", "hilarious" and "entertaining" art history can REALLY be:

"Plato differentiated between clinical insanity and creative insanity - that inspired madness of which seers and poets are possessed. ... [real "gossipy" - right?]

It was Marsilio Ficino, the great Florentine philosopher and commentator on Plato's Dialogues, who paved the way for the diffusion of Plato's thought. [CAUTION: here comes some more gossip] Ficino summed up his ideas on inspiration in a letter of 1457 addressed to his friend Pellegrino Agli. A few passages from this long statement may here be paraphrased: The soul, which tries to grasp through the senses as much as possible [hey, I can't BELIEVE this gossip!] of divine beauty and harmony, is enraptured by divine frenzy. Plato calls celestial love the unattainable desire, which drives us to recognize divine beauty. To see a beautiful body arouses [...Ho, Ho, Hooo!...] the burning desire after divine beauty and, therefore, those who are inspired and transported into a state of divine madness."

...and here the plot thickens a bit (as they say).

"Thereafter the idea that the true artist created in a state of inspired madness was much discussed and widely accepted. [but this is just "gossip", right?] We need not probe further into the pervasive influence of Plato's furores, but shall turn to another tradition according to which genius was not far removed from real madness. Seneca's often quoted dictum ... 'there never has been great talent without some touch of madness' - would seem to express this point of view. In actual fact, Seneca's further comment leaves no doubt that he referred to the Platonic fire of divine inspiration rather to insanity. BUT WHEN THE PASSAGE WAS QUOTED OUT OF CONTEXT, AS IT OFTEN WAS FROM THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ONWARDS, IT SUGGESTED A DIFFERENT MEANING. [my emphasis] Dryden's 'Great wits are sure to madness allied, / And thin partitions do their bounds divide, [great gossip! - I'm sure we can ALL agree] and even Schopenhauer's 'genius is nearer to to madness than the average intelligence' echo the MISINTERPRETED LINE FROM SENECA." [again, my emphasis]

... and here is where we start getting "close to home", so to speak.

"During the nineteenth century clinical diagnosis confirmed the previous assumption of an alliance between genius and madness. Early in the century Lamartine already talked of 'cette maladie qu'on appelle génie' [ yet more gossip: 'this illness is called genius' ] by the end of the century the idea of the disease was so firmly established that a popular magazine declared 'evidence is not lacking to warrant the assumption that genius is a special morbid condition'. Meanwhile a school of professional psychologists, represented by ... Moreau (1804-84) ... Lombroso (1836-1909) ... Moebius (1853-1907), had correlated psychosis and artistic activity. Their findings had a considerable influence on twentieth century psychiatrists. ..."

"Psychiatric opinion conquered large sectors of the public. A writer like Proust maintained that 'everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded religions and composed our masterpieces.' And Lionel Trilling regards the supposed connection between mental illness and artistic genius as 'one of the characteristic notions of our culture'. " [WOW! I have rarely read such a fun and entertaining book!]

... or, you can just read the highly dangerous book by Kay Redfield Jamison: Touched With Fire - Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament (1993). Jamison is no artist and doesn't know beans about art. But this is completely OK because she's DIAGNOSED and exists on the higher levels of the medical establishment. Redfield will tell you at the end of her book that (I paraphrase) "the medicating out of existence" of the terrible problems attached to being "creative" is far more important than preserving art. And indeed no doubt we can count on a multi-billion dollar international criminal pharmaceutical industry working in conjunction with the medical establishment to achieve Redfield's zero-tolerance-for-deviance-vision of mankind's blooming future.

http://www.amazon.com/review...odeID=283155&store=books