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Paganini, and Tchaikovsky, they both are alleged to have had epilepsy, but where is there actual evidence to prove this?
Mon, 05/31/2010 - 12:32Topic: Creative Corner
There are several classical composers, including the ones mentioned in the title. My question is where is the proof that they did indeed have epilepsy, and is there any proof as to whether or not their epilepsy had an influence on their music? Discuss.
Comments
Re: Paganini, and Tchaikovsky, they both are alleged
Submitted by stephsobota on Tue, 2010-06-01 - 19:15
As far as Tchaikovsky goes, I have never found any evidence that he had epilepsy. I've read his bios, I've read letters,etc by him and about him in Russian, and I've studied in and talked with folks in his house-museum in Klin (just outside of Moscow). The only thing that I've found that might suggest why folks came up with the Tchaikovsky/epilepsy connection is the belief that he had seizures when he had his final and fatal fight with cholera. That doesn't constitute epilepsy. It seems he dealt with depression, but I don't believe he dealt with e at all.
It also seems like folks who are quirky and creative are often automatically labeled as eppies, just because they're quirky and creative. It's much like in Zamyatin's novel _We_, where the main character, a citizen in a future dystopia, writes, "What difficulties our predecessors had in making music! They were able to compose only by bringing themselves to attacks of inspiration, an extinct form of epilepsy."
(The irony here being that Zamyatin's novel is a conscious conversation with the ideas of Dostoevsky, and here his mention of e is a reference to Dostoevsky's epilepsy. And the D-man definitely had e.)
An interesting source of info about what sort of maladies might have been suffered by historical artists is Bogousslavsky's series _Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists_.
Sry - had to jump in on my favorite topic! :)
Steph
Re: Paganini, and Tchaikovsky, they both are alleged
Submitted by phylisfjohnson on Tue, 2010-06-01 - 12:27
From the EFA in Toronto: " There have been a number of prominent composers and musicians reported to have seizures. George Frederick Handel, the famous baroque composer of the Messiah, is one. Niccolo Paganini is another. Paganini was an Italian violinist and composer considered by many to be the greatest violinist of all time. The eminent Russian composer of the ballets Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, Peter Tchaikovsky, is believed to have had epilepsy. Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest masters of music, may have had epilepsy as well.Add to that: Neil Young and Hector Berlioz...
There can definitely be a creative side to the electrical mischief that epilepsy produces. Some types of epilepsy can spark inspiration, enhance creativity and bring out the latent artist in you. It can be as diverse as music...literature…poetry…painting…drawing…dramatics…architecture…philosophy…or physics…to name just a few.
Researchers claim that often these surprise talents are associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. In this case, the sides of the brain, where memory and feelings reside, are intermittently seized by those “electrical storms” which produce the spark. Although the seizures may be undetectable to observers, they can prompt hallucinations, religion, fury, fear, joy and an unquenchable desire to create, even after the seizure is over. Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com
From the EFA in Toronto: " There have been a number of prominent composers and musicians reported to have seizures. George Frederick Handel, the famous baroque composer of the Messiah, is one. Niccolo Paganini is another. Paganini was an Italian violinist and composer considered by many to be the greatest violinist of all time. The eminent Russian composer of the ballets Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, Peter Tchaikovsky, is believed to have had epilepsy. Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest masters of music, may have had epilepsy as well.Add to that: Neil Young and Hector Berlioz...
There can definitely be a creative side to the electrical mischief that epilepsy produces. Some types of epilepsy can spark inspiration, enhance creativity and bring out the latent artist in you. It can be as diverse as music...literature…poetry…painting…drawing…dramatics…architecture…philosophy…or physics…to name just a few.
Researchers claim that often these surprise talents are associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. In this case, the sides of the brain, where memory and feelings reside, are intermittently seized by those “electrical storms” which produce the spark. Although the seizures may be undetectable to observers, they can prompt hallucinations, religion, fury, fear, joy and an unquenchable desire to create, even after the seizure is over. Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com