Haydn acknowledged that he had to make a conscious appeal to a higher level before he could compose. Then there are others who have tapped in through their ‘superconscious’ level intuitively.
Mozart for example, when he was asked bout the process of composition said, “the process with me is like a beautiful “Vivid Dream“,and he went on to describe how the ideas, clothed in the proper musical setting, streamed down upon him. “Of course” he warned “a composer must also have mastered the technique of his art”, but he added that any musical person can do this if he has the proper application. What he was trying to tell us was that the difference between the mere technician and the ‘perceived’ genius is found in the ‘Vivid Dream’.
I add here that this is true for all genres whether it is in Jazz, Rock or Pop where composers have composed something magical and yet cannot explain the origins of their musical ideas.
To another questioner Mozart replied “When I feel well and in good humor, or when I am taking a drive or walking, thoughts crowd into my mind as easily as you wish. Whence and how they come I do not know and I have nothing to do with it. Once I have a theme, another melody comes, linking itself with the first one in accordance with the needs of the composition as a whole, then my soul is on fire with inspiration. If, however, nothing occurs to distract my attention, the work grows, I keep expanding it more and more clearly until I have the entire composition finished in my head, though it may not be long. It does not come successively with its various parts worked out in detail, as they will be later on, but in its entirety that my imagination lets me hear it.”
I recall, following prayer and meditation, that I would hear music in my mind’s ear which I had no idea where it belonged, except it may have sounded like a song or something for dance. During later sessions I would hear more music and be able to determine that what I heard first was the middle section of a piece, next the final section and lastly the beginning, though not always in any set order, but which would always all ‘hang together’ perfectly. Most gratifying whenever it was all finally revealed.