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Einstein's Violin
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Einstein Year (2005) and Superstrings
Einstein's Violin at Caltech
Einstein's Favorite
First Steps In Violin World
Mozart Inspires A Breakthrough
A. Einstein Plays Violin At Benefit Concert
Recollection of Einstein's Older Son Hans Albert
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Mozart
Inspires A Breakthrough
"The years between ten and thirteen were crucial ones for young Einstein. He made three discoveries that foreshadowed his life. He discovered the music of Mozart; he discovered mathematics; and he discovered science. Although he had studied the violin from the age of six, he had never cared for practicing - sign that even a genius is not too different from other little boys.
But then his teacher gave him his first long Mozart piece. He was overjoyed. To think that there was music for the violin that sounded like that! Such melody, such clarity, such purity of tone. Albert rushed home and started to play - and found that years of "skimping" on his practice time showed up immediately. He could not play the Mozart properly. There were the notes on the page; he could hear the music as his teacher played it. But it did not sound that way when he attempted it.
He began to practice in earnest, devoting hours to scales and tricky bowing practice he had previously hated. As he had been told, practicing made the difference. His technique improved and he was able to play the Mozart piece, the first of many he was to play. From then on, no matter how busy, he always found time to practice. Music, indeed, became for him a way of working out problems. Whenever he was tired or dispirited, he turned to his violin. He was to find music a solace in many grim hours that he could not even dream of at ten." ([2], p.18)
