I like to use the movie Amadeus as an example of this. The movie portrayed Salieri as a man who could barely play. When that was just not true at all. The problem is they were comparing someone who is top of their field to someone who was extraordinary. In fact if you look at the movie semi closely you would see Mozart could not even keep the rest of his life together.
I thought of that movie also. Although half fiction, it's a wonderful flick; I highly recommend it for anybody frustrated with their position in life.
Re: "The movie portrayed Salieri as a man who could barely play. When that was just not true at all."
That was the King, not Salieri, as I remember it. But Salieri's playing did lack the flair that Mozart's had, as shown. However, the King himself seemed to prefer Salieri's simpler style, based on various conversations.
In actuality, Salieri was probably financially more successful than Mozart, but less remembered, so there is an element of truth to it.
In general Mozart's music did tend to please musicians more than regular audiences. He was perhaps a bit ahead of his time. This is similar to Beethoven, who was probably considered to be in the top 10 at the time, but not the greatest of his era. Beethoven practically invented the so-called Romantic era, so to some he was doing "weird stuff". It took a while for mainstream to "get" Jimi Hendrix also. I know it's a politically-incorrect cliche, but pioneers often do take arrows in the back.
If you play music in modern times, this movie is also informative. I think most musicians who really make innovative tunes are aware of these trade offs, it maps to real life well. There's musicians who make music for other musicians and they're trying to say something they know most people will have a little difficulty hearing.
Being Mozart was often in debt, it wouldn't make sense that he wanted to please musicians over paying customers. But who knows. Maybe his desire to test the limits of music subconsciously overrode financial worries, and that's why he was always in debt.
Most creative pioneers have a personality quirk or two.
Some people are just bad with money management. They get and spend it as fast as they can. Some can manage it but allocate it incorrectly. Money management is a skill that takes time and practice for most people. Learning other skills is also a skill. Mozart was a prodigy it could be no one pulled him to the side to learn how to learn and always let him play?
