Mozart had ‘attention deficit disorder’
OrchestrasThe US period instrument specialist Robert Levin has an interesting theory for Mozart’s ceaseless output of new piano concertos.
He tells Richard Fairman of the FT: ‘I imagine Mozart as being restlessly creative, with a kind of attention deficit disorder, so that he was too inventive (to play the music the same way twice). Besides which, the idea of performing heritage works was not part of the zeitgeist then.’
Read on here.
Attention Deficit Disorder is a 20th century invented disease, as are most “syndromes” etc., and is just another way for Big Pharma to rake in more huge profits. Mozart was a genius, and that is all that need be said.
Alan Schwarz who claimed that Big Pharma was responsible for the overdiagnosis of ADHD did not in fact claim that it was a made up mental disorder
I don’t know what is more preposterous, that Mozart had ADHD or that this bogeyman Big Pharma is out there inventing diseases. As for Mozart, he actually FINISHED all those concertos and symphonies, inventively and impeccably (just look at those manuscripts!). If that is sick, how crazy must Haydn have been.
i’ll have you know that the autograph manuscript in concerto 26 is not complete
It is not a disease.
Google Images says the “Mozart” photo illustration accompanying this Slippedisc entry is from the 1940 film “Eternal Melodies.” (With a smile:) That put my mind at ease. At first I thought the photo was a fake because it obviously wasn’t Tom Hulce.
He was not ‘too inventive’ but simply VERY inventive, and with any attention disorder this had nothing to do, of course. The meticulously worked-out music does not show any sign of any disorder.
Mozart organised his own concerts, and presenting a new piano concerto at each of them was the thing that made them interesting for the audience, it helped the marketing: ‘A new concerto by Herr Mozart’.
That he was a nervous busy-body does not mean he suffered from psycho problems. What gradually underminded him was the realisation that he did not get to be seen as the artist he was, namely much better than any other composer in Vienna except Haydn, but merely one of the many. And his later more dramatic style was a bit alienating for the audience who mainly came for elegant pleasure.
“He was not ‘too inventive’ but simply VERY inventive, and with any attention disorder this had nothing to do, of course. The meticulously worked-out music does not show any sign of any disorder.”
The one problem of Mozart, which even a genius could not escape, was that the “meticulously worked-out” part is showing, the emotional inspiration does not always last. In his best works and best parts, it does.
Less concertos/symphonies etc. tends to be more. If there are dozens…much of it is, well…”meticulously worked-out”, to put it nicely.
On the advice of my PA I restrain myself to comment.
Couldn’t agree more. Less is usually more!! The first 25 symphonies all sounded alike. Same with the Piano concertos – save about 4 or 5 of them altogether. Too much consonance, too much sugar.
– If Mozart sounds too sugary, the performers are probably to blame.
-May I suggest that you listen to “Ein Musikalischer Spass”. Have fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TSmGSvCv0E
That piece is fantastic nonsense…. great satire.
Regrettably, we cannot know Mozart’s reaction to Ms Form’s commentary.
The first 25 or so symphonies served primarily an entertainment purpose as little more than slight divertimenti. In fact, Mozart’s divertimenti and serendades contained far better and more interesting music than his symphonies prior to 25. Starting, not with 25 really, but with 29, and particularly 34-41, they adopt an entirely different language and purpose and, in doing so, become masterpieces. From the time Mozart had started writing symphonies, Haydn had transformed the nature of the symphony, and Mozart more than met the challenge. As for his piano concerti, I couldn’t disagree more. Along with his Operas, the piano concerti represent Mozart’s best genre. From 9 on, they’re all masterpieces, particularly 19-27. His achievement in the genre is monumental.
No, I don’t believe that Mozart had any type of what we call nowadays Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. This condition is usually associated with poor professional performance due to difficulties with sustained attention. Patients with the ADHD variant associated with hyperfocus are usually too dysfunctional for the rest.
“Poor professional performance”? Give me a break. I have ADHD and was a principal player in two excellent orchestras, a frequent soloist with one of them, and soloist with conductors such as Dutoit, Mata, Paillard, Rilling, Zukerman, Schneider, Norrington and Pinnock.
So, that must have been another ADHD: Always Done the Highest Duties.
And you’re far from alone in that.
The lack of understanding of and education on actual ADHD/ADD symptoms and their impact (to say nothing of masking) – as opposed to the populist, stereotypical image – in these comments is disappointing to say the least. I’m kind of disgusted.
I ain’t no musicologist but I thought it was because of Mozart’s landlord.
mozart didn’t suffer from attention deficit disorder, he suffered from being poor, he wrote 27 piano concerti and 41 symphonies to get paid
by that logic, bach was master of attention deficit who wrote twice as much to support his 20 children
Mozart didn’t suffer from any kind of ADHD, and he wasn’t poor (though he did have some money problems from time to time). His compositional output was comparable with contemporary professional musicians. The same with Bach — who by the way only had to support 10 surviving children, very widely spaced (eldest 1710, youngest 1735).
There might be something to this theory — consider for example how quickly he seemed to have lost interest in the seemingly very promising bits of the keyboard + violin sonatas, some of which Levin himself has “completed” into something performable. It is as if the fact that hard work was going to be required to make something of them made him lose interest, to our loss.
But on the other hand, consider how he clawed back a serenade to make the Haffner Symphony, or how he clawed back the two duos for violin and viola that he had composed to enable Michael Hayden to keep his job. And he was not beyond reusing themes and motifs which at least suggests he was not beyond being a practical and efficient work-a-day musician versus relentlessly creative.
There is also the matter of his methodical interest in counterpoint that came fairly late in his short career — not the academic counterpoint via Fux that he like any trained composer of his era would have learned early on, but the more creative and advanced counterpoint of Bach and Handel that Baron van Swieten introduced him to. I am not sure a person with ADD would have undertaken that careful study — and grasped its point, no pun intended — so readily.
All correct.
Also it has emerged that he often worked on more than one work at the same time, and quickly finished one which had a deadline. Also sign of great practicality.
And his carefully keeping a list of his works, with date, and instruments required. Not a psycho type.
And his early interest in mathematics and being good at it. Music being a kind of fluid mathematics, this is not surprising.
What about Beethoven then – was he autistic or did he have Asperger’s Syndrome? His violent mood changes and misanthropic tendencies that dogged his ability to form relationships with others, coupled with his being a musical genius, might suggest this.
More to the point, who cares about these sensation-seeking attempts to pigeon-hole historic figures into convenient contemporary categories without having any personal contact with the subjects or any pathological evidence?
Indeed. But it comes from the wish to understand these strange people as human beings. Their music is so close and still such a very living presence, while they come from times and societies so fundamentally different from ours.
Tell that to the advocates of identity politics!!
As absolutely as one can say of a dead person who can’t be formally evaluated–you are right. I would say AuDHD. His documented GI issues are typical of the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome commonly associated with autism and ADHD. As someone with ADHD and EDS I could even point to some aspects of his piano writing (those damned double trills) as possible evidence that he had a bit of hypermobility, although as a man with male muscle mass, he would not have had the more obvious disability that most females with EDS have. Muscle mass can somewhat compensate for the joints being too loose.
Another explanation for the double trills – a technique adapted to the pianos of his time, and hours of practice. His pupil Czerny has a chapter on double trills in his Op.500 Piano School. They were part of a virtuoso pianist’s armoury. No EDS necessary.
…added to which, how could anyone accuse Mozart of having any attention deficit when he could conceive and then compose, without copious sketches, works such as Don Giovanni, the Clarinet Concerto, the G minor String Quintet or the last three symphonies, not to mention 600 other works, in only 30 years of creative activity?
Indeed.
By the way, it has transpired that he did indeed make some sketches, probably not as elaborate as Beethoven, but they have not been preserved. He did a lot in his mind but for the larger works he did some paperwork.
The composition training methods used back then would have encouraged him to think in “chunks” or “licks” rather than individual notes. Look up “galant schemata” for more info. Memory becomes much easier that way, at least if your ADHD has not impaired your memory in your special interest area. Grammars are often an area of special interest in ADHD, and that can include musical grammars, and those can be recalled with little to no effort once learned as part of the special interest, much more so than where one’s car keys are!
I’m an ADHDer with a special interest in a couple foreign languages. The one I learned as a teenager hardly requires review although I use it very inconsistently. The grammar is just there in my long-term memory. Combine that with Leopold’s Tiger Parenting and you get a very solid musical foundation (along with the PTSD)
I learn so many new letter people here!
Sally
Yet another utterly idiotic notion among countless others that constantly emanate from the desiccated brains of “period instrument specialists.” The epistemological abomination that is HIP is a scourge and truly the worst thing to have ever happened to classical music.
What a nonsense… there are great period ensembles who have shown how fantastic music from before the modern instrument revolution can sound. And who have greatly contributed to our understanding of the older styles. But there are differences in quality as with everything.
Only three examples of superb top ensembles:
Kölner Akademie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG_nrlNUql4
Les Arts Florisants:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG_nrlNUql4
Collegium Vocale Gent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZZxamoyoWs
They have opened a whole world of understanding of pre-romantic styles and sensitivities, and they are very expressive and beautiful. Just to not mention the entire Monteverdi recovery from oblivion and now part of a very living opera tradition.
Your first two examples are duplicated. Please adjust. I’m agog for more.
Sorry about that…. Here is the link to Les Arts Florissants with an utterly delightful fragment from Rameau’s ‘Les Indes Galantes’, about the peaceful lives of American Indians:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sPC8HsXxik
It is wonderful for once to be able to agree wholeheartedly with Mr Borstlap. May I add two more excellent groups, Collegium 1704, and Ensemble Inégal, both based in Prague.
Mozart makes much more sense on fortepianos and with smaller period-instrument orchestras.
Indeed… of course….
Oh dear, this is embarrassing!!
Nonsense. I have heard recordings — of Mozart sonatas, incidentally — where the period instrument served as an excuse for the pianist to do all the tasteless things any teacher would have told them not to. Levin’s own recording is free of such quirks but I almost got attention deficit syndrome trying to listen to it. It is the musician who plays the instrument, remember?
On the other hand, I cannot imagine Renaissance or Baroque music done in any other way but along the perspectives opened up by the best HIP. Some of the best Haydn and Mozart recordings are by the Orchestra of the XVIII century. Just listen to the last three symphonies or the clarinet concerto on Glossa.
@IP The fortepiano is truly a disgusting-sounding instrument. I cannot abide it.
I enjoy more than a few HIP recordings. Gardiner’s Bach cantatas are extraordinary, for instance. But that’s Gardiner’s musicianship at work, not the mindless application of a codified “system”. HIP is almost a reflection and reaction to the Schoenbergian idea than one can reduce music to a series of systematic processes to achieve consistent and predictable results, in the case of HIP, at the service of a supposed “authentic style” its practitioners cannot possibly have anything but speculative knowledge of. Again, when HIPsters achieve musical results – as they sometimes do – it’s in spite of their little system, not because of it.
Which particular fortepiano do you find so disgusting: Erard, Pleyel, Stein, Streicher, Broadwood, Zumpe, Shudi, Walter, Graf …? They are all different.
While I enjoy many HIP performances, what I really find great is the infusion of fresh thinking into conventional orchestral playing. No more first movements of Mozart 40 (Allegro molto, alla breve) in a morose pseudo-romantic Andantino, thank goodness.
@GuestX I have yet to hear a single Mozart or Beethoven performance on a fortepiano – regardless of the model or replica used – that didn’t sound like utter crap, and I’ve listened to dozens. And that despite some fine artists like Peter Serkin, Brautigam, Staier and Badura-Skoda being at the keyboard (and some awful ones like the execrable Bezuidenhout). But hey, don’t take my word for it. None other than Murray Perahia has said that the fortepiano “sounds like a bad piano.” And indeed it does.
And we didn’t need HIP to get a zippy Mozart 40 Allegro molto. None other than Furtwängler – the devil as far as HIPsters are concerned – performed that movement faster than even most HIP practitioners. But tempo is entirely dependent on whether the artist can justify it, and great performers convince you in the moment that whatever tempo they’ve chosen is, if not “right”, then certainly a valid musical choice. That’s why I can enjoy pianists as disparate as Backhaus and Arrau, for instance, who adopt radically different tempi. There is more than one interpretive path than can be taken with the greatest scores, which is one of the reasons I deeply resent the HIP fundamentalists and their notion that there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to interpret a work, which is nonsense. In music there is no “right” or “wrong”, only good or bad and the million shades between.
I too dislike fundamentalists of any creed, in music as in all other matters. But I personally find it enjoyable and stimulating to hear the instruments that Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin wrote for, played by musicians who have studied past performance practice. However, tastes differ. Remember what Beecham said about harpsichords? Perhaps you agree with him too.
Maybe I misunderstood ADHD but Mozart demonstrated sustained focus and concentration creating his many masterpieces which he himself said something along the lines of “people think this is easy but it is the result of many years of hard work”.
Maybe a restless creativity or simply an abundance of inventiveness would be better characterizations.
Genius = great natural talent + focussed personality + selfconfidence + circumstance + very hard work.
Far too many of the commentators seem to know far too little about ADHD / ADD. Those are very real, not at all “psycho” problems – and they probably had nothing to do with Mozart creativity. Some of the odd things he said and did, do sujest some other problem – though it would be foolish to name it based mainly on myths.
Absolutely. This is how you get to K.626 in 36 years.
Let experts deal with their specific areas of expertise.
Robert Levin is a fine pianist and a very good performer of Classical Style Music.
Speculative ideas and assertions about Mozart’s “attention deficit disorder” should be based upon strong evidence, genuine professional experience and truly reliable knowledge in the field.
Agreed. But the headline does say “a *kind of* attention deficit disorder” and no doubt the paywalled article would make Levin’s meaning clearer. As it is, the second sentence quoted, about the Zeitgeist and heritage works, is the real explanation for Mozart’s productivity, and that of many of his contemporaries: the tradition of performers devoting themselves entirely to the ‘great classics’ of one or two hundred years ago is a twentieth-century thing.
There is so much ADHD (and autism, for that matter) in high-end classical music-making that I would not be surprised at all. He also has evidence of a lot of side issues that ADHD folks face, like immunodeficiency (the number of illnesses he had as a child is high even for pre-modern-medicine times) and an outer ear deformity that is common in Ehlers-Danlos, a connective tissue condition many ADHD and autistic folks have.
The bit about him suddenly pouncing around and meowing like a cat mid-rehearsal is very “ADHD” to me. A lot of his letters’ content suggests the same. Since music was his special interest and ADHDers can hyperfocus on a special interest (ask any ADHD tween who has a special interest in videogames), it’s not out of the question that he could bust out that amount of work in his special interest area. Just don’t ask him to clean the house efficiently or manage his money properly.
Source: I am an ADHD professional musician who came from an AuDHD parent. Game recognizes game.
I should have such a “disorder”!
…and thank god he did!!
Please don’t forget the different style of training that they used in those days. It was based on the theories of the Neopolitan conservatories with with their solmization system based on six hexachords.
Mozart learnt a lot about composition from J.C. Bach, who was trained by his father J.S. and elder brother C.P.E., in the North German tradition. J.C. Bach had further training from Padre Martino, in Bologna, as did, later and more briefly, Mozart. The Neapolitan tradition has little to do with any of this.
That should be Padre Martini!
Whether he did or not, it didn’t hurt Mozart’s music.
Beethoven didn’t let the lose of hearing stop him.
But others were not so lucky. JS Bach stopped composing after he went blind. That was a very unfortunate case. It was caderacts that did him in. If only they had today’s treatment. He was actually blinded by a quack doctor sticking needles into his eyes to cure his condition.
The only thing Mozart suffered from was Money Deficit Disorder. The rest follows from that.
I also have MDD. Whatever I spend, there is always much more coming-in. At least, that is my impression.
Sally
I am totally convinced that Mozart was a raving Schizophreniac ; He often had bouts of hearing non existant characters interacting with each other. Sometimes even in threathening form , like the Commendatore among others. And that Queen of the night !! What sane person would hear that in His mind without going…eh.. insane .
It’s called, having an imagination.
I don’t know why people are so surprised that the most famous child prodigy in history might be neurodivergent in some way. I would think it was pretty obvious.
I was diagnosed as hyperactive when I was 7 years old back in 1963. Yeah I’ve been a tournament chess player for more than 50 years, playing in my first American open when I was 16. Ive known plenty of chess players with ADHD. It’s interesting that chess mathematics and musical gifts seem to go together so often. Temple grandin said that people with high functioning autism usually have one of three different types of thinking: visual pattern or verbal. The pattern thinkers excel at mathematics and music. I would count chess as in the same group.
For thrills try googling “Mikhail
Tal suitcase.” He was possibly the most creative world chess champion in history yet he couldnt pack a suitcase properly according to his wife.
Gee, that’s too bad. If Mozart had not had attention deficit disorder, he might’ve amounted to something.
The genius needed to earn a living. He knew how to do it composing music and performing it, as well.
The great thing about being a musicologist is that no one requires your 250-years-after-the-fact diagnosis of someone’s (maybe) personality disorder to be valid.
What a load of rubbish! He was a genius, that’s all.
No problem! One of greatest musical minds the world has ever known. In my career, I have encountered others with learning disabilities who have exceptional musical minds also.
Mr Levin,
#1. You are not a medical professional
#2. Do not speculate.