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The enigma of creative genius is perhaps the most fascinating of problems to students of the human mind. There have been many psychoanalytic contributions to the understanding of this mystery, among them Freud on Dostoevski and Leonardo, Sharpe on Shakespeare, Bonaparte on Poe, Lee on the creative mind, and Bergler on writing, but the genesis of creative genius remains virtually unsolved. Freud state, 'The nature of artistic attainment is psychoanalytically inaccessible to us … [psychoanalysis] can do nothing toward elucidating the nature of the artistic gift …' (1). It is nevertheless tempting to seek in the life and work of an artist clues that may lead to just such an elucidation.
Perhaps the greatest in his field, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's genius was at once unique and so extraordinary that it fairly cries out for investigation. We are comforted by the assurance that whether or not we reach any general conclusions about creative genius, we can learn much of interest about one of the supreme figures of Western art.
Certainly the most striking feature of Mozart's very brief but incredibly productive career was his precocity. The story of his surreptitious pianistics at the age of four is too well known—if not too apocryphal—to bear retelling. Surreptitious or not, it is well established that Mozart was musically active before most children are able to read, and was composing short pieces for the clavier at the age of five.
Outstanding in Mozart's development was his relationship with his father, Leopold. The father, unquestionably the dominant figure in the Mozart home, was a prominent Salzburg musician, author of an internationally known treatise on violin