Richard Kogan, M.D., to Analyze Chopin’s Mind and Music

The duality that can manifest in a troubled mind has long fascinated Richard Kogan, M.D.

“Mental illness can lead to great disability, but it also can inspire extraordinary acts of creativity,” he said.

For Kogan, an award-winning pianist, this intrapsychic conflict is especially poignant among composers, such as Frederic Chopin (1810-1849).

Kogan is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, artistic director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, and codirector of the Weill Cornell Human Sexuality Program. He studied piano at the Juilliard School and earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at Harvard.

At age 20, Chopin left Poland to explore the culture and beauty of Western Europe; just one month later, the November 30 Uprising thrust his homeland into a decades-long period of political turmoil and oppression under czarist Russia. Forced to spend his entire adult life in exile, Chopin, already a musical prodigy, poured his hope and suffering into creating some of the most exceptional solo piano pieces ever written, particularly the polonaises and mazurkas that were a tribute to his homeland.

But these masterpieces also coincided with a growing decline of his mental state. Worries about his distant home and family triggered panic attacks, phobias limited his public performances, and a diagnosis of tuberculosis preoccupied his mind with death and melancholy.

Kogan will explore this relationship between Chopin’s psyche and his creative output in a special session at APA’s 2015 annual meeting titled “The Mind and Music of Chopin.” The discussion—which will also examine Chopin’s relationship with the brilliant and notorious French novelist George Sand during his later years—will be illuminated by performances of some of the composer’s most celebrated music.

Kogan has been providing such melodious insights into the relationship between the inner turmoil and outer creativity of great composers for many years. He hopes his efforts help destigmatize mental illness by showing it in the positive context of the achievements of a renowned historical figure.

The session will be held on Saturday, May 16, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 102, Level 100, North Building, Toronto Convention Centre. ■

To watch a video of Kogan’s presentation at last year’s annual meeting, “Rachmaninoff and His Psychiatrist,” click here.