The possessor and the possessed : Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and the idea of musical genius
"The concept of genius intrigues us. Artistic geniuses have something other people don't have. In some cases that something seems to be a remarkable kind of inspiration that permits the artist to exceed his own abilities. It is as if the artist is suddenly possessed, as if some outside force flows through him at the moment of creation. In other cases genius seems best explained as a natural gift. The artist is the possessor of an extra talent that enables the production of masterpiece after masterpiece. This book explores the concept of artistic genius and how it came to be symbolized by three great composers of the modern era: Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven."
History
xiv, 287 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
9780300087581, 0300087586
45879463
I. Time out of Mind
II. Greatness of Mind
III. Breaking the Rule
IV. The Saxon or the Devil
V. The Genius and the Child
VI. The Little Man from Salzburg
VII. Giving the Rule
VIII. An Unlicked Bear
IX. Mozart's Second Childhood
X. Odd Men Out
XI. Beethoven Again
XII. Gendering Genius
XIII. Reconstructing Genius
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