How ‘openness’ isn’t always good for art
True creativity also requires solitude and separation from the world
“I was cut off from the world. There was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original. ”
- Haydn, on being employed at the Esterhazy Palace in rural Hungary
One of the notions I’ve been grappling with in writing my second book is ‘openness’, often accompanied by a sister concept: ‘outward-looking’. The arts and music establishment appears to see these things as boundless goods: not just in terms of free movement for artists to ply their trade abroad but so that they can access all the great ideas that are apparently swirling around in the wider world.