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October 25, 2008
Dr. Richard Kogan writes about composers and mental illness
Richard Kogan, a Juilliard-trained concert pianist and a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, writes about the effects of psychiatric illness on composers throughout the ages in the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin.
He writes:
The relationship between Rachmaninoff's illness and his music intrigues me, for I'm a psychiatrist by day and a concert pianist by night. Ten years ago, the American Psychiatric Association asked me to give a presentation on the connection between creativity and mental illness. Until that time, my careers had progressed on parallel tracks. But that experience helped me appreciate the synergy between the two domains. My psychiatric training enabled me to identify patterns of illness in the life stories of the great composers, and this understanding gave me insight into the creative process.
Among the composers he discusses are Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and Bernstein.
Related Links:
- "Chords of Disquiet," Richard Kogan, Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin, Spring 2008.
Posted by admin at October 25, 2008 01:40 PM