In Your Opinion, Who is the Absolute Musical Genius?

Bach?

Open content (youtube)

Vivaldi?

Open content (youtube)

It is a question to which I wouldn't know how to answer. Truly. After so many years of Music, I still discover "geniuses." Every "great" Composer became a genius even through a single work. It is difficult to choose between Bach and Mozart, between Beethoven and Chopin, etc......

I play a lot of Chopin and I don't know how to form a concert program without including some of his works.

Tonight with Simone we played the first movement of a Mozart four-hands sonata. We will make it known on the forum. It seems perfect. Genius. ...But what can one say about Beethoven's Appassionata.......or Chopin's 4th ballad.....

I can't!!!! Forgive me 😆

Splendid virtuosic interpretation. I would be pleased if Maestro Domenico Sapio, with whom I took my music history and aesthetics exam, were to register on the forum. Aesthetically, Mozart has nothing to add or subtract. Everything is perfect just as it is. In my opinion, these revisions are purely for virtuosic spectacle, and I am certain that the reviser themselves did not intend to add anything to the aesthetics that Mozart had originally given to his piece. To confirm my thesis, I note that such "re-editions," if we want to call them that, are always destined for extremely famous pieces and never for pieces intended for an elite of musicians. Ultimately, it is pure spectacle; the crowds need this too!

Regarding genius, I believe Mozart's genius is indisputable! Who else wrote their music without ever making a correction? However, it is also interesting to mention Wolfgang's childish side which contrasts with his musical genius; one only needs to read his letters...

I wouldn't know how to choose anyway... Everyone has their own very evident genius, but distinct from the others.

Greetings!

I am not interested in Einstein, but Physics.

I have a wonderful memory of Einstein because, with his genius, he made physics simpler.

But he reasoned on things worked out by more obscure men (such as Lorentz, for example), as well as on things worked out by other illustrious ones (such as Galileo, for example).

I am not interested in Genius, but Music.

Be careful to go (if you are in Rome) only to Bulgari for jewelry! Also look among the small ones. Even there, incredible jewels or rare gems are hidden!

If however I had to choose, without making a ranking, I would say that genius (at least for Western music) is:

Aguado, Albeniz, Alkan, Bach JS & CPE, Bartok, Beethoven, Bellini, Berlioz, Chabrier, Chaminade, Donizetti, Dvorak, Chopin, Debussy, Faure, Granados, Gottschalk, Haydn, Hindemith, Hummel, Joplin, Liszt, Lully, Mahler, Moscheles, Mozart, Prokofiev, Puccini, Pujol, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Rossini, Satie, Scarlatti, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, Sibelius, Sor, Strauss, Villa-Lobos, Vivaldi, Wagner, Weber. (I apologize to anyone I have certainly missed)

In short, what I want to say is that music, just like physics, is not the work of one person, but a work built by the community.

Just think about how much of folk traditions are contained in music and how much of the common feeling (of each composer's own time) is in every composition, even those that appear most original to us. In reality, the composer does not create (just as Einstein does not create), but is incredibly good at capturing what is important (or essential or useless: cf. a certain Malipiero)

And it is precisely this that makes music different from many other human manifestations.

Bye and excuse my minimalist position: geniuses are a wonderful thing, but without ordinary people (and a few other rare geniuses), they wouldn't have achieved much.

Bye

Genius is neither the egg nor the hen, but whoever stands at the origin. In any case, Music makes one think, makes one meditate, in addition to obviously delighting our ears and our hearts.

"Genius is he who has his own vision of the infinite," Van Gogh rightly said, and in the end, whoever has their own vision of the infinite is someone who has their own faith and therefore.... believes, believes in men and in their spirit of faith. This will always drive men of great or small talent to do something for themselves that is also something for humanity. Everything they did for us yesterday; today is everything we have. What can one say? A big thank you to all of them.

gian wrote:

Perhaps genius (even absolute genius) does not exist, or perhaps, if we admit the existence of God, the only absolute genius is He himself. We human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, as the Bible says ("created", therefore, i.e., imitations), potentially capable of doing anything, could ultimately define ourselves as "machines", "instruments" in the hands of God, like a pen in the hands of a writer: it is not the pen that composes, nor is it even the hand that holds it, just as it is not even the intelligence of the writer, because he is not the creator of himself, who found himself "accidentally" born thanks to his parents, who in turn found themselves born thanks to their parents, and so on, backwards in time. Genius is neither the egg nor the hen, but the one at the origin. In any case, Music makes one think, makes one meditate, in addition to obviously delighting our ears and our hearts.

Eh, yes. Perhaps absolute genius does not exist. In any case, I believe that music is one of those "perfect elements" that is part of the imperfect human soul... In my opinion, the human soul can attempt to reach Perfection through Music... However, the human being is not perfect... In short, in my opinion "the genius" does not exist, but there are different ways to reach Perfection. Intuitively, I would say that one of the "Perfect Ones" is Mozart. As Simone says, who has composed symphonies without correction? But, then again, how could we "demote" Beethoven, just because he took a long time to "refine" and "define" his pieces?

It is not an easy question. Probably, as I said, there are only different paths to Perfection... allow me this figurative image: Chopin chose the path of the Nocturne or the Prelude, Mozart the elegant and rational Symphony... Beethoven, on the other hand, loved to free himself from the "patterns" of normality... What do you think?

Ehehe not to mention Debussy, dear Francesco, who rejected the patterns of classical harmony because they were too narrow for his musical idea. In Debussy, it is not difficult to find sensitive [harmonies] that have not been deliberately altered so as not to have to resolve to the tonic, whereas classical harmony compels it! Human intelligence, which is the starting point of genius, expresses itself in different natures. Every author has been a genius in their own way in some sector of music. Let us not forget the Camerata 'De Bardi', also called the Florentine Camerata, who through chats among friends invented melodrama, which remained the undisputed scenario in opera for centuries! Or Guido d'Arezzo, who invented the current musical system (even dubbed by his contemporaries "the inventor of music"), and the Guidonian hand through which mutations between mi and fa and on the soft si were easily performed. We could go on for a long time, but this is to explain that in all sectors of human intelligence, whether it be music, science, or philosophy, whoever has brought about innovations is a genius. Our modernity is based on the construction of geniuses who were the first to think and see something that others did not see. Is genius, then, reducible to a factor of speed of realization? Of mathematical logic? Of spatial logic? Or a mixture of all this? Who can say?

If I manage to find it tomorrow, I would like to post a poem that my father wrote specifically about human intelligence... In my opinion, very significant.

Until next time!

@TheSimon

Ahooooohhhhhhh! And what are you doing to me? Embehhhhhh? A day has passed, evening has come and you still haven't posted the poem ??????

Look that I am sending you back to Rodi Garganico in the sauna !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Simone, best wishes again and see you tomorrow!!!!

Oh my god, no the sauna no !! Ahahahah

My father is about to arrive I can't find the poem anymore, so I'm waiting for him to return, he should remember it by heart.

Dear friends and classical music enthusiasts, I would like to ask you what feeling or emotion you 'emanate' when, for example, you play a piece by Mozart or Beethoven; how do you feel, what poetry do you create with this magnificent instrument like the piano (of course, the emotion is stronger when you have a grand piano 😆). In my opinion, at that moment, at least in my humble opinion, when one succeeds with a Mozart sonata or any other composer, one feels, how should I put it, an emphasis, a satisfaction, a pride, and when playing, it brings a strong feeling inside each of us.

Well, tell me, since you are more experienced than I am, what do you think? I would really love to know your emotions.

Hi, thank you.

A pianist used to say: "when I play Mozart, I feel a pleasant tingling on my fingertips". I like the description of the sensation. Of course, we are in 'another dimension'!! It is difficult to explain, but it seems as if everything else around ceases to exist. Today, with my dear friend Simone, we recorded the first movement of a Mozart four-hand sonata, which we will soon publish on the site, available to everyone. A sensation of great understanding and a unique language. We conversed with our fingers through staccatos, scales, arpeggios, and chords. The simultaneity and the shared understanding of phrasing accompanied us together into the "garden", into the "eden" of this wonderful Author. You will try to interpret and imagine for yourselves what sensations we experienced.

Thank you for revealing your emotions to us, and I completely agree with you when you say that we enter another dimension, because that is what music is; the passion for it makes you feel this way. I am happy that in today's world there are still those who think this way, in such an intense manner; it is clear that you love playing very much.

Thank you for your reply and I look forward to more.

Here is my father's poem as promised...

"On Intelligence"

"Since the world has existed, man has strived,

to give an answer regarding intelligence.

To be honest, no great result has been achieved,

so our knowledge remains vague.

There are those who want to deduce it from reasoning,

those who try to discover it with an inquisitorial air.

Those who consider it a learning capacity,

and those who reduce it to a matter of memory.

See how divergent the opinions are !!

Precisely because of this, we all feel intelligent.

I, who have always been a proponent of science

and have urged scientists toward the ultimate union,

to satisfy our every need,

on this subject I make a prayer to them: leave us in doubt !!

Would you perhaps consider it a landmark event

if one day you discovered the measure of the brain?"

Alberto Renzi

Compliments to the poet. Really nice. The content is also profound.

A truly beautiful poem... very profound, funny and also very realistic! Give my compliments to your father; I believe that he, like I believe all poets do, worked very hard on this poem, or perhaps it was simply enough for him to look out the window and reflect on what was happening; you can tell it reflects reality very much.

Compliments again.

Poetry in many cases can also be linked to music; in fact, very often they become songs...

Why... not operas??? "Del recitar cantando"!!!!! Poetry is very much present in Music. Meter is the sister of both Arts. See how Mozart worked on Da Ponte's librettos and how Battisti worked on Mogol's words. Four "souls" very close to each other and of great depth!!!!!! This is what I think. I don't believe it is sacrilegious to bring them together, and I like discovering the great parallel that unites these two Worlds.