Operatic Inspiration, Genius and Madness

The relationship of the nervous system and mental illness with musical creativity can be found in the production of eminent composers of the Romantic Age (1800–1910). Research published in recent decades specifies that in the history of music, mental disorders are not only present as a plot element in many operas, but are a condition experienced by many authors during the creative phase of their career. The cliché ‘genius and madness’ is reflected in the biographies of Gaetano Donizetti and Bedřich Smetana who were both suffering from neurosyphilis and confined in an asylum. Niccolò Paganini contracted syphilis, but he also suffered from a rare genetic anomaly. Robert Alexander Schumann was affected by bipolarity and, in addition to the symptoms of syphilis, he also suffered from annoying hearing alterations. Giuseppe Verdi fell into a severe depression, while Maurice Ravel suffered from aphasia and apraxia related to an unclear form of neurological deterioration. However, the production of these composers does not appear influenced by their pathological status. Indeed, their mental condition seems to have boosted their genius to the maximum degree. In this review, the association between the neuropsychological pathology and the creativity of well-known Romantic composers was investigated through the analysis of both the clinical histories and the musical production. However, it is difficult to establish where personal innovation stops and the effect of the medical condition takes over, especially for musicians of the Romantic Age accustomed to research expressive freedom and unusual intensity. Indeed, the cases examined do not have a univocal answer. In some cases, the pathological phenomenon has appeared to enrich the talent of the musicians with imagination. In other authors the serious neurological damage and the consequent invalidity seem to have represented an obstacle to the compositional work.