Reply #23: I don't know about Mozart and Rachmaninoff, but Khachaturian is certainly demented. [View All]

[Aristus]

I think it is just Mozart's off-the-charts genius that makes him seem demented. When it came to his faith, Roman Catholicism, he was very sober and serious. His liturgical music bears this out. His Mass in C minor is one of the most astonishing things ever composed. I always thought of the piece as Mozart's way of saying: "Don't worry. God's got everything under control. Everything's cool."

And his letters as an adult to his father are certainly not demented. They are very lucid and rational. Now, his letters as a child; that's other thing. I remember reading one of his letters to his sister when he was away on tour telling her how excited he was to be coming home to her. He announced that he would kiss her "face, head, hair, hands, feet, and backside (if it is clean.)" :rofl: