The sound of unsound minds
Great music is linked to troubled composers, a psychiatrist-pianist says
But if you look at his genius and the profusion of ideas, his mental illness was also useful.
Definitely. Those who had a mental illness all suffered enormously, and in every case their illness created certain handicaps. When Schumann was hypomanic, he wrote a lot and really well and with great energy. When he was depressed he couldn't compose. On the other hand, when Tchaikovsky was really depressed, that stimulated composition. But, had he not been so depressed, he would never have killed himself at the height of his creative genius.
Would the music have dried up if they had been medicated?
I think that if Tchaikovsky had current treatment that would have relieved some of the unbearable mood states, he would have taken it. If he noticed that he was not as productive, that his music wasn't quite as powerful, I think he would have stopped the treatment. These great geniuses seem to have an imperative, that what they are creating is more important than anything else in their lives.
What was the psychopathology of George Gershwin?
Gershwin wasn't really exposed to music until he was 9 or 10.When he was 8 and 9 years old he was the classic bad kid--kicked out of school; people said he was studying to be a juvenile delinquent. If he had grown up in the late 20th century, he would have seen a child psychiatrist and been labeled as having attention deficit disorder. When he was in his mid-30s--world famous, at the peak of his career--he became severely, pathologically depressed. He went to a brilliant psychoanalyst and was in treatment five days a week for two years. At the same time he was writing his opera Porgy and Bess. Within two years of his depression, he collapsed and doctors discovered a massive brain tumor. I am convinced his depression was secondary to his brain tumor. This is not a psychiatric success story.
How did all this influence his music?
The music of Porgy and Bess is so much more somber than anything else he wrote. He wrote so many love songs, his music is so jaunty. But this music is full of anguish--the most moving music he ever wrote. To my mind it is no coincidence that this depressed man, who is essentially dying of a brain tumor, is writing melancholy, much more profound music.
Isn't it dangerous to retrospectively or posthumously diagnose historical figures?
People often say you can't really diagnose anybody you have not had face-to-face interviews with because it is conjecture at best. But Tchaikovsky was a prolific letter writer, he wrote 1,400 letters to his patron, and they were very intimate letters. He clearly had a major depressive disorder; Schumann was clearly bipolar. Beethoven was interesting; I have had trouble getting a good fix on his diagnosis. He had substantial psychological issues with tempestuous mood swings. He was unquestionably depressed. He had suicidal thoughts though he never made a suicide attempt. And he had clear, overt, psychotic behavior, especially at the end of his life. It is difficult to factor in how much his irregular behavior and eccentricities were influenced or exacerbated by his progressive hearing loss. When I talk to audiences about this, people often come up and say, "I have heard this piece a million times, but I have never heard it that way." I don't think they are talking about the uniqueness of my interpretation, I think they are talking about their understanding of the psychological and historical forces that went into making that piece.
advertisement
