 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-01-25 22:39
It has been suggested by experts in the field of autistic disorders that Mozart had Asperger’s Syndrome.
http://www.sutterhealth.org/health/healthinfo/index.cfm?page=article&seq_id=2&sgml_id=zq1008
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html
This can itself explain the genius that’s almost impossible to understand for other mortals. It can explain his obsession for certain things, the lack of structure in his life, his frustrations when things didn’t go his way and his lack of social skills.
I have a six year old son myself who has been diagnosed with AS. Since he cracked the reading code at the age of three, he has become an “expert” in every field that has caught his special attention. Whether it has been parking meters, busses, trains, sense of directions, mobile telephones, numbers or churches, he has learned every piece of information about each subject and become an expert for his age and a source of information if I need to know something. I’m only waiting to see what happens if he ever gets interested in music.
Since I have learned more about AS I now have my thoughts about many musicians who appear to show many of the criteria, many times enough to get a diagnosis.
AS is a handicap but if they get proper help with their shortcomings and can cultivate their skills they can live an ever so happy life.
Alphie
Post Edited (2005-01-25 23:27)
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-01-27 11:50
Eeh... I expected a debate on this one but nobody replayed, maybe because I didn't point a question:
What do you think about the suggestion that Mozart maybe had Asperger’s Syndrome or some other autistic dysfunction?
Does anybody have any experiences of people with some autistic dysfunction that are “special” or especially gifted? I wrote about my six year old son.
One person working for the administration of my work shows typical symptoms. He is a walking musical dictionary. He knows the whole Koechel-catalogue by heart including historical facts about each work, the same with Beethoven’s opus-numbers.
He’s a phenomenon.
Of cause, as a parent it’s interesting for me to have some feedback as well.
Alphie
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2005-01-27 12:28
Very hard to diagnose such an unusual illness without a patient...however, we do know Handel and quite a few other composers had Manic depression and sufftered greatly. Sadly however, society has trouble with brilliant people to fit in as much as those on the oppossite end of the intelligence sprectrum.
I also know a number of brilliant musicians who are mathematical genius...and I mean being able to take integers to a realm unthought of.
David Dow
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-01-27 13:13
Sounds plausible.
Imagine Mozart on Ritalin.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-01-27 13:38
Very interesting, Alphie, I was , of course, attracted by the name, its having some similarity to mine, but also by Mozart, who is of some interest to every musician as well as most "common folk". I [we] hope that the "early genius" attributes continue and no problems of consequence appear. One of our grandsons had some "extra" math [calculation] abilities early, but now at the U of TX is opting for other [political science] studies and only minor interest in music, somewhat disappointing this engr-?musician? G F. Each of our 4 children is quite good in hers/his chosen fields, only one has followed in physical science[my favorite! of course] and has gone far-far beyond my chemistry and I hope some GRAND kids will do likewise. Back to Mozart, and his GREAT wind-inst music in partic., I ran across a different M book, copied a few pgs, which give a quite diff. picture of his genius and peculiarities. Its "Mozart" by Wolfgang [!!] Hildesheimer, ISBN 0-374-52298-7, pub. Noonday Press, NYC. One of the reviewers says it pic's M was a "flawed and puzzling human being". With what reading I have done, I agree. Here I go on and on, agin, GBK/MC. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-01-27 13:43
-- Sounds plausible.
-- Imagine Mozart on Ritalin.
This appeared in The Onion some years back:
http://www.wibbble.org/ritalin.txt
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: Mandy's Mom
Date: 2005-01-27 13:44
Good luck Alphie, with a great parent like you, I'm sure your son will do well!
Terry
Post Edited (2005-02-04 16:40)
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-01-27 15:30
Thanks Mom, as I've learned not all AS's are quiet and sit in a corner trying to avoid people. Some, including my son are very eager to speak about whatever is on their minds to anybody they meet. The main problem is interaction with the person you’re talking to and for them to understand that other people are maybe not as crazy about a certain thing as you are (maybe not unlike any six-year-old). They are a bit self-centred but in a very innocent way and they are also eager to show off what they are good at, not unlike Mozart for what I know.
Just for the record, I'm not expecting my son to become a new Mozart
Alphie
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-01-27 15:42
It's interesting to speculate on the cause(s) of Mozart's genius but attributing it to a relatively rare disease sounds like marketing to me. I don't say this disparagingly as regards any person's bad luck as I am all for spending the bucks on improving humanity's wellbeing.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Pappy
Date: 2005-01-27 16:02
Don't know about AS, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOZART! (1/27/1756)
I have been told that a young would-be composer wrote to Mozart, asking advice as to how to compose a symphony. Mozart responded that a symphony was a complex and demanding musical form and that it would be better to start with something simpler. The young man protested. 'But Herr Mozart, you wrote symphonies when you were younger than I am now.'
And Mozart replied, 'I never asked how.'
"That is my favorite Mozart story." -- Isaac Asimov
Beethoven is always storming heaven but Mozart lives there.
- Josef Kris (Conductor)
There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.
- Camille Paglia
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Author: Mandy's Mom
Date: 2005-01-27 16:50
Nothing I have ever read about Mozart indicated he had a social disability. The obsession with music is not enough.
Post Edited (2005-02-04 16:41)
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Author: Mandy's Mom
Date: 2005-01-28 21:19
If I could write like Mozart I might be obsessed with music too!
Post Edited (2005-02-04 16:42)
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Author: ginny
Date: 2005-01-29 18:38
My older son, now 19, has had Asperger's as a diagnosis, as well as terms like 'non-verbal learning disability.' He has perfect pitch, and is fairly musical. My younger son is the better musician however.
I don't see him being a genius, although he has written several novels (writing is his thing now.) I used in home behavior modification, with his cooperation to teach social skills. My son literally needed to be taught social skills, that most of us just know. However he did not need to be taught some high level skills such as reading. There is some evidence (MRI scans) that the brain gets rewired.
I would never have believed at age eight that in 11 years he would be living away in the dorms at college, have friends and a beautiful, lively girlfriend. Junior high was the worst, as stated above. Even then,I had thought he would never live on his own, and some other kids targeted him to the point where I had little choice but to homeschool him for several months.
I apologise for being off topic here. You might find it amusing to correspond with my son at some point. The growth and normalization that can occur in the early years is stunning.
Best of luck, the prognosis is not bad.
I have tried to make my email show, temporarily, if you want to get it touch with either of myself or my son. He has corresponded with other parents of Asperger's children.
It seems plausible that a number of geniuses have some autistic traits. In math as well.
Post Edited (2005-01-29 18:50)
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