Six Interesting Musical Facts About Albert Einstein

Adapted from CMUSE
https://www.cmuse.org/interesting-musical-facts-about-albert-einstein/

• His mother was the musician in the family

Pauline Koch Einstein was an accomplished pianist in her own right, and taught Einstein to play the piano and violin when he was very young. Initially he showed more aptitude for the piano, but as he became a teenager he developed more interest in the violin.

• He loved Mozart’s violin sonatas

Mozart’s work, Einstein wrote, “was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.” In this respect, he saw Mozart as a kind of musical physicist—someone who seemed to find his distinctive sound in the most cosmic essence of harmony.

• He deeply admired Bach and Beethoven, but never cared for Wagner or Debussy

But Einstein didn’t love all music. “I admire Wagner’s inventiveness,” he admitted, “but I see his lack of architectural structure as decadence. Moreover, to me his musical personality is indescribably offensive so that for the most part I can listen to him only with disgust.” About Debussy, he wrote in a 1939 questionnaire: “I feel that Debussy is delicately colorful but shows a poverty of structure. I cannot work up great enthusiasm for something of that sort.”

• He credited his violin, which he nicknamed Lina, for most of the joy in his life

“I know that most joy in my life has come to me from my violin,” he said as an old man—with a certain amount of longing, as by that point he had lost the ability to play his violin with satisfaction due to decreased motor coordination in his left hand.

• He frequently played classical music as a brainstorming technique

Einstein’s second wife Elsa once remarked, “I fell in love with Albert because he played Mozart so beautifully on the violin. He also plays the piano. Music helps him when he is thinking about his theories. He goes to his study, comes back, strikes a few chords on the piano, jots something down, returns to his study.”

• Although there is no known recording of his performances, he enjoyed playing in public

Einstein did perform in public many times, and his efforts were generally well-received. “There are many musicians with much better technique,” Einstein’s doctor János Flesch candidly observed, “but none, I believe, who ever played with more sincerity or deeper feeling.”

by Ms. Chandrika
https://www.myc.com/members/cdealmeida/