´óÏó´«Ã½

Writer and music lover Amanda Dalton’s childhood was dominated by her love of playing the piano and loathing of the intensive psychoanalytical psychotherapy she underwent for five years. Coupled with her long personal interest in how the brain and the body work together, this series takes an unusual look at music.

The essays focus on human stories exploring interactions between music and a troubled mind, discussing some of the key historical and current thinking regarding the relationships between creative individuals with mental health challenges or damaged minds - and music. Some of these will be well known, some less so – all afford rich material to explore the themes. Always returning to the human and personal story, the series references the research and insights of neuroscientists and psychologists, such as Daniel Levitin, Oliver Sacks and Anthony Storr. As arguably the birthplace of psycho analysis and home to a multitude of iconic classical musicians – the starting point is Vienna.

Essay 1: City of Dreams: Vienna, Psychoanalysis and Me.

Vienna’s incredibly rich musical history as home to many of history’s most famous composers and musicians is well documented. Equally, it’s known as the birthplace of psychoanalysis, being the long-time home of Sigmund Freud and several of his colleagues. This essay explores how the two worlds of music and psychoanalysis collided in this extraordinary place, including the occasion in 1910 when Mahler visited Freud for analysis, the experience of other composers who underwent psychological treatments, and Freud’s own ambivalent relationship to music. It’s woven through with an introduction to Amanda’s own personal encounters with music and psychotherapy, beginning for her aged seven.

Amanda Dalton is a playwright, poet and essayist. She has three poetry collections with Bloodaxe Books, most recently Fantastic Voyage (2024). Smith|Doorstop published a pamphlet of two long poems, Notes on Water, a version of which she re-created for two voices and soundscape for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3’s Between the Ears.

Amanda writes extensively for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 and 4 including original drama, poetry-dramas, re-imaginings of silent movies and classic film, lyric essays and adaptations of fiction. Her theatre writing also includes text for outdoor and site-specific performance, and work for young people with commissions from Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres and Keswick’s Theatre By The Lake. Until 2019 she was a senior leader at the Royal Exchange Theatre where she also worked as an Associate Artist, theatre maker and project director, in partnership with communities across the North West and beyond. Alongside her work as a writer, Amanda designs and delivers a wide range of writing workshops, mentors a number of poets and playwrights, and regularly curates and co-delivers collaborative cross-artform projects, most recently with Wainsgate Dances, Manchester Camerata and Quarantine. Her website is https://www.amandadalton.co.uk

Writer and reader: Amanda Dalton
Producer: Polly Thomas
Sound: Alisdair McGregor
Exec Producer: Chantal Herbert

A Thomas Carter Project production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3.