I think many people have the misleading impression, principally from that very brilliant film, that Mozart was a bawdy, undisciplined philanderer who occasionally had flashes of genius. |
I was intrigued by this term 'genius,' because as far as I can see it is completely useless. |
There are some common characteristics of people who managed to become pre-eminent in their field, and I wanted to see how much those characteristics could apply to Mozart - and to what extent he was just this gift from God. I think that for ordinary mortals like me, it's not very useful to think of someone as a genius, divinely given. It doesn't help me understand who they were. |