Kyle Vanderburg Music in the Classical Period October23, 2010 ARTICLE SUMMARY Peter Kivy, "Child Mozart as an Aesthetic

Symbol" in Journal of the History of Ideas28, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun., 1967): 249-258. In this article, Peter Kivy addresses the fact that while Mozarts impact on music has been the subject of much study and inquiry, less work has been completed regarding Mozarts impact on other areas and ideas, specifically his impact on the history of aesthetics. Kivy focuses his article on the concept of Mozart as a child, referring regularly to the composers child prodigy or wunderkind idea. The idea of Mozart as a child permeates much of the Mozartean legend, which leads Kivy to state that Mozart was the man who remained a child. This can be seen in the composers scatological humor, his emotional immaturity, and his musical fun and games. Mozart mixed music and games for most of his life, which may stem from the method used by his father to teach him composition at an early age. His sister Nannerl describes a game that continued until Wolfgang was ten: he composed a melody which he would sing out loud each day before going to sleep, to which end his father had to set him on a chair. Father always had to sing the second part, and when this ceremony, which might on no occasion be omitted, was over, he would kiss his father most denderly and go to bed very peacefully and contentedly. This is but one example of Mozarts musical games. The games continued into Mozarts adulthood, prompting discussion of the creative intellect and genius, and what this means in terms of aesthetics. Kivy references Schopenhauer and his ideas of aesthetic disinterestedness and the childlike become intertwined. The idea of aesthetic disinterestedness requires that we psychologically distance ourselves from our own practical needs and the practical aspects of the object itself. Furthermore, Schopenhauer says that every child is to a certain extent a genius, and every genius to a certain extent a child. The relationship between the two shows itself primarily in the naivety and sublime ingenuousness that are a fundamental characteristic of true genius. Moreover it comes to light in several features, so that a certain childlike nature does indeed form a part of the character of a genius. Through Mozarts games and his general childlike demeanor and aforementioned emotional immaturity, Kivy argues that Mozart had a great influence on the study of the aesthetics of genius in the late eighteenth century. The concept of aesthetic disinterestedness required a child genius and a childlike man, and the embodiment of Mozart in this aesthetic ideal only adds to the Mozartean legend.