"Carta a un tal barón von..." de W. A. Mozart sobre el proceso creativo

Abstract

This article examines the romantic conception of "genius" through the analysis of an apocryphal letter of 1791 attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The document was discovered by Johann Friedrich Rochlitz and, since its publication in August, 23, 1815 in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of Leipzig, it has captured the attention of philosophers and musicologists. Interest has been focused on the process of musical creation, and how the "genius", i.e. the composer, perceives the finished musical work in his mind before writing it. This article aims to show, through the analysis of this letter, the limitations of musical-rationalistic conceptions, which regard music as being only in the score, in the notes or in their mathematical relations subject to a visual and architectonic perception.