Perhaps this is why music like Farinelli's is so intense? Like Van Gogh, with his maddening tinnitis.. or Beethoven with his deafness.. it seems that those artists who suffer greatly are the ones who manage to create art that transcends our expectations; and redefine (in some sense) and extend their fields... I wonder why this must be so.. It seems greatness is its own curse...
but then in every field of art, you have the individuals who lead somewhat 'boring' lives, or at least lives that are not born of pain and suffering: Mozart, Bach, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, etc...
Could it be the artists who suffer the most for their creations are ones we particularly empathize with?
but then in every field of art, you have the individuals who lead somewhat 'boring' lives, or at least lives that are not born of pain and suffering: Mozart, Bach, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, etc...
Boring is appropriate, but many of them felt pain. Bach's mother and father died when he was 10 years old. I imagine he understood what loneliness and sorrow were. Mozart was destitute, lost all but one child in his life time, and died extremely young. Michelangelo's mother died when he was 6 and was said to derive little pleasure from material and physical pleasures.
Ben Okri suggests that art is born from wounds to the self. The art is that person's attempt to make sense of and/or heal their wounds. I agree with him and the person who first suggested that bad life = good art.