A lot of people you read about who grew to be leaders in their field by some ridiculous age like 25, spoke fluently in 5 different languages, etc. etc. did so because they had three things: dedicated one-on-one tutors, an appreciable collection of slaves and/or other general servants, and enough family wealth to pay for both from the time they could walk.
Mozart was composing as a toddler, but he also came from a wealthy family of musicians that taught him basically nothing else. Ever. That was the one thing. He hyper-specialized in music and socially he was the guy that got bored and did cartwheels and meowed in public. If Mozart was in your position, with the kind of loving care and finances most students have today, he would have been the kid in class who beatboxes over the teacher.
I'm actually still coming to terms with this myself. with mixed success. I've always loved art, but I've never been where I want to be and I've been making strides again. But the further I take it, the more it becomes apparent that 90% of the problems I've ever had with it were not me, they were because no one ever bothered to teach me. And I'm pissed about the decades I lost simply because child me was never shown concepts that would have changed everything.
Do not judge your own accomplishments on the same scale as someone who had ample time to devote to their studies because their family had house slaves doing everything you have to do by yourself.
sirico@feddit.uk 5 months ago
Whilst his later work is unarguably genre defining it’s also worth noting the style of music at the time had very defined rules and formulae.
Doesn’t take away from an achievement but as you’ve pointed out it’s very similar to math spelling programming prodigies if today.