One Day University: Genius Day with the 92nd St Y

When asked to provide a list of “geniuses” in Western cultural history, virtually all respondents would include the name Mozart. What is it in Mozart’s music that makes it among the most sublime ever written? What personal traits did Mozart possess that enabled him to create music of this extraordinary quality? Using live music and video clips from operas, as well as from the film Amadeus, we will explore the enormous diversity of Mozart’s music. At the same time, by examining color photographs of his autograph manuscripts and draft sketches, we will witness Mozart’s attention to the smallest detail. Having explored his music in both breadth and depth, our attention turns finally to the enablers of Mozart’s genius: genetic gifts, mentoring, motivation, concentration, self-confidence, and just plain luck. By the end of this session, we will come to see that not only is Mozart’s music great, but Mozart himself was unique, and arguably the most extraordinary creator ever to set foot on this planet.

We recently celebrated the 500th anniversary of the unveiling of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. If any work of art demonstrates artistic genius, it is this well-known masterpiece. No matter how familiar the images, no matter the trials of that crowded space, few visitors have not felt awe standing under this titanic achievement. Like a handful of timeless monuments—the pyramids, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China among them—the Sistine never fails to astonish us. In many ways the ceiling is a compendium: of Michelangelo’s art, of the Renaissance, and of Christian theology is a transcendent work of genius that is never exhausted through looking or describing. In the words of German writer, Johann Goethe: “Until you have seen the Sistine Chapel, you can have no adequate conception of what man is capable of accomplishing.”

Where would we be without Shakespeare? The romantic love of the “star-crossed” Romeo and Juliet, the Oedipal complex of the eternally indecisive Hamlet, the “vaulting ambition” (Shakespeare’s phrase) of the tortured Macbeth…all of these characters and so many more are an integral part of our collective memories. Shakespeare’s surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems embedded into the plays themselves. It is indeed impossible to imagine the English language and Western literature without Shakespeare, who many believe to be the greatest writer of all time. However we rank him, one thing is certain: when we read Shakespeare we encounter genius; an inventiveness and intellectual energy that will change our understanding of language—and literature—forever.