Abstract

Heightened self-expression and innovation in the creative arts requires an extraordinary output of psychic and physical energy. Such expenditure is useful, atypical, exhausting and for some, necessary. This thesis will explore elevated artistic expression by considering the lives of four remarkable composers, each a creative genius in his own right: Robert Schumann, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Edward Elgar and Charles Mingus. Schumann and Mingus are the principal subjects of investigation; Tchaikovsky and Elgar are secondary. The nature and manifestations of their creative processes were inherently similar: sporadic and cyclical. Their radical productivity, often accompanied by feelings of euphoria and invulnerability, was almost always followed by profound lapses of energy and despair, and at times the absence of functional ability. In examining the lives of these exceptional pioneers I will be investigating the universality of behaviors that may illuminate the nature of this cyclic bipolar phenomenon so many artists share. This analysis will be divided into three categories: formative experiences, primary relationships and cultural influences.