In the unconscious, there is no such thing as time, place or dates. This became clearly evident when Sigmund Freud and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited Ann Arbor, Michigan, on October 24 while taking a break from their journey in eternity. As you may know, Freud made disclaimers about music, maintaining he could not appreciate it. Mozart countered that he could express himself only through music.
Displaying enough comfort to address each other on a first name basis, the two icons engaged in a lively discussion (with assistance from my original script) about their feelings regarding music and psychoanalysis. This topic is explored in my book, Melodies of the Mind.
Mozart could not understand how Freud, developing his theory of the mind at the turn of the 20th century in Vienna, was not curious about how music was a road to the unconscious. Freud could not understand how music was a pathway to mental life without using words to analyze it. The two men also discussed leaving their motherland—Freud left Vienna for London to escape the Nazi invasion and Mozart left his home in Salzburg to travel to Paris with his mother who, sadly, died during their travels.
During their visit to reality, Freud and Mozart were welcomed by Carol Seigel, director of the Freud Museum in London, at a large gathering at the Ann Arbor Jewish Community Center. Freud, in particular, felt at home as Seigel brought objects from the Freud House to share. With the assistance of actors from the University of Michigan's respected Music Theater Department (Brent Wagner, director), Al Fallick (Freud) and John-Alexander Sakelos (Mozart), we learned about the development of psychoanalysis and about Mozart's composing his great piano Sonata, K. 310 in A minor. As Freud and Mozart departed and continued their journey back to eternity, the entire sonata was performed by Louis Nagel.
It has been documented that Freud and Mozart have appeared together in other venues around the U.S., and it was rumored they will visit other locations in the future.
Julie Jaffee Nagel, Ph.D., is a graduate of the Juilliard School, University of Michigan, and Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, where she is also faculty. She is author of Melodies of the Mind and in private practice in Ann Arbor. Website: