Mozart's talent. Nature vs nurture.
- Alexandra Louise Harris
- Feb 2
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 3
Excerpts from Mighty Muso - Musings behind Violetta's adventures for adult minds and readers.
It would be slightly remiss to speak about talent and innate ability and not mention Mozart. In particular, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756- 1791)—the wunderkind of the nineteenth century, wowing audiences with not only his playing, but his compositions.
The young Mozart was very busy indeed. According to Ludwig von Köchel’s catalogue, by the age of 10, Amadeus (he preferred to go by his middle name) had composed thirty-three pieces. That’s quite impressive, I’m sure you’d agree, and poor Köchel had quite a job on his hands trying to find them all. In fact, the catalogue was later revised by our friend Einstein in 1937— among others—as more lost manuscripts have since emerged; although the jury is still out on a couple.
I’m embarrassed to say, I’ve often told my students that Mozart composed Twinkle Twinkle, as it tends to make the endless Suzuki variations more palatable. I know. It is very shameful, as although Amadeus composed the piano variations when he was around twenty-five; the French Folk song, Ah vous dirai-je, Maman, existed for quite a while before that.
Köchel, however, did a marvellous thing. It made life so much easier for everyone since and it’s fair enough that the ‘K’ from his name became the suffix that we associate with Mozart’s works; eg. K218, his violin concerto in D major (1775). That’s one of my favourites, and I often wonder what inspired it. The first movement is so playful, the second stunningly beautiful, and it unusually has a scherzo and Rondo as a fourth movement. So fun.
Perhaps it was because Mozart was twenty-one-years old when he composed it? I’ve heard he was up to all kinds of mischief, for much of his life, and was quite fond of a joke. Just look at his comic opera, or Opera Buffa. The music is fantastic, full of character, so entertaining and popular even today and who could forget the Queen of the Night aria? The costumes and set in this production are also amazing!
Can you tell I’m a Mozart fan? I just love his music. It is so difficult, precise and technically demanding, but like many, I love the challenge. You may also have heard about the ‘Mozart Effect’, where listening to his music stimulates the mind and should be played to unborn babies in order to turn them into geniuses. Well, as far as I can see, it can’t do any harm.
It's hard not to see that Amadeus was something special. His productivity alone is astounding and having only lived to thirty-five, it’s hard to comprehend. Like Vivaldi and Paganini, there have even been many films made in his name, and one particularly entertaining one called Amadeus. Although there may have been some fabrication for the purposes of entertainment—his poisoning by Antonio Salieri for example—his juvenile sense of humour appears to have been accurately portrayed.
Mozart’s social behaviour has long been of interest to many, leading to the conclusion that he may have had Tourette’s syndrome. When I first stumbled upon this, I was quite surprised. I had heard Mozart was known to be eccentric, risqué and sometimes peculiarly behaved, but I'd never heard of anything like that.
Naturally, I did a little research. I discovered Mozart was known to be slightly hyperactive, a little obsessive compulsive, and often lacked restraint. Many of Mozart's letters to his sister Nannerl have survived. She was quite the talent herself, often overshadowed by her older brother, but they are an enlightening read. The historical accounts are fascinating, but I couldn't help feeling it's a little weird to read private letters. Imagine the world reading your emails and text messages, scrutinising every comment under the psychological microscope. I doubt many of us would emerge unscathed.
When I dug a little deeper, I discovered much debate has occurred on the topic of his ‘scatological’ disorder. That term was new to me, so I had to look it up, and was very surprised that it referred to faeces. Yep, poo; and apparently Mozart was a fan of potty humour.
Benjamin Simkin in his article on ‘Mozart’s Scatological Disorder’ notes that out of the three hundred and seventy one letters written by Amadeus, thirty nine of those refer to faeces. Another forty-five make reference to buttocks and defecation, and a further twenty one to the ‘s’ word. If that wasn’t enough, there are another twenty or so that refer to urine and breaking wind—to use the polite term. So, based on that evidence, that’s about thirty eight percent of them.
However, I haven't managed to find those bits in his letters on Project Gutenberg. Admittedly I skimmed so you might be more successful, but I did find some very fun accounts of Venice during Carnival and this humorous letter he wrote to his little cousin from Mannheim, Nov. 5, 1777.:
"My dear Coz—Buzz,—
I have safely received your precious epistle—thistle, and from it I perceive—achieve, that my aunt—gaunt, and you—shoe, are quite well—bell. I have to-day a letter—setter, from my papa—ah-ha, safe in my hands—sands. I hope you also got—trot, my Mannheim letter—setter. Now for a little sense—pence. The prelate's seizure—leisure, grieves me much—touch, but he will, I hope, get well—sell. You write—blight, you will keep—cheap, your promise to write to me—he-he, to Augsburg soon—spoon. Well, I shall be very glad—mad. You further write, indeed you declare, you pretend, you hint, you vow, you explain, you distinctly say, you long, you wish, you desire, you choose, command, and point out, you let me know and inform me that I must send you my portrait soon—moon. Eh, bien! you shall have it before long—song. Now I wish you good night—tight."
I can't help wondering if some people might be taking his letters too seriously. Maybe Mozart was was just having a laugh? Children love to read about poo, and many adults too. We only have to look at the number and popularity of toilet inspired reel on instagram to know Mozart wasn't the only one amused. Just look at how many popular books are based around potty humour. In fact, I remember loving Morris Glitzman’s Misery Guts series, Paul Jennings’ ‘Round the Twist and one of our all time favourites was Doug MacLeod’s Sister Madge's Book of Nuns; especially the story about the windy Nun who ate too many cabbages. Here is an illustration, still firmly etched in my mind, and just one of the funny stanzas.
Explosions rocked her small abode
Her bathtub landed in the road
A flying sink complete with taps
Made fifteen blocks of flats collapse.
Ha! Oh it still makes me laugh and you really must read it. Signore Maggiorino also has a slightly windy escape, perhaps inspired by my childhood reading. By the way, you can download that eBook for free if you wish to go on a random adventure.
Anyway, back to Mozart. You see, I started to wonder: what does all this have to do with his musical abilities? Well, Mozart’s brain, along with many other brilliant minds, has long been a source of curiosity; and similar to the study of savants, his odd behaviour has been thought indicative of an undiagnosed disorder.
Ashoori and Jankavic point out: ‘Although there are numerous reports attributing Mozart's peculiar personality and behaviour to a spectrum of neurobehavioral disorders such as Tourette's syndrome, autistic disorder, Asperger's syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder and paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection, the evidence for any of these disorders is lacking.’
Then, there is the nature vs nurture debate which cannot be ignored. According to Geoff Colvin in Talent is Overrated:
‘Mozart’s first work regarded today as a masterpiece, with its status confirmed by the number of recordings available, is his Piano Concerto No. 9, composed when he was twenty-one. That’s certainly an early age, but we must remember that by then Wolfgang had been through eighteen years of extremely hard, expert training.’
His daily life really was intense, he hardly had a day off, so no wonder he had to let off steam occasionally in the form of frivolity and humour. Like Paganini and many tall poppies, Mozart seems to be given a pretty hard time. His letters have been dissected, he hardly has any privacy left, and although many, many people admire his music, they often forget the man.
Throughout history, it has always been more entertaining to read about the embarrassing exploits of people in the spotlight, but what about all the other things? I know it appears to be unrelated, but I can’t help thinking of Princess Diana.
As Amadeus said himself: "My sole recreations consist in dancing English hornpipes and cutting capers. Italy is a land of sleep; I am always drowsy here. Addio—good-bye!"
So, I believe it’s the Mighty Muso way to accept one another’s eccentricities. Although the inner workings of great minds, I admit, is very intriguing, there may be a line we cross into prying. I think it’s also important to ask ourselves why we are interested in these things about others, and consider what we plan to do with them. If we are interested in empathising, that’s a mighty cause, however, if our intentions are to perceive them as less—knock them down a few pegs—then… not so mighty. Especially if we go around telling everyone about it.
In my personal experience—although my talents are minuscule and not threatening in the least—people have sometimes behaved in odd ways. By odd, I mean deliberately obstructive, or just mean. Why? I’m afraid I don’t know. I do believe, however, that everyone is capable of contributing something to our lives, and those people have made me stronger. You’ve probably been there too.
I also believe everyone has their own groove, and their own unique way of being. So why then, can’t we just get on with the music?
Simkin, B. (1992) ‘Mozart's scatological disorder’, BMJ Journals, 305:19-26
Ashoori A, Jankovic J (2008) ‘Mozart’s movements and behaviour: a case of Tourette’s syndrome?’Postgraduate Medical Journal, 84:313-317
Munro, T. (2016) ‘Very Superstitious: The quirks and foibles of the musical pros’. Limelight Magazine, 9th September.
Colvin, G. (2010) Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else.
#mozartletters #mozartandnaturevsnurture #whywasmozartsotalented #talentisoverated #classicalmusichistory
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