The last time I tried to post about this it was taken down and I was threatened with banishment. I understand it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but seriously? In yesterday’s post, I mused over and invited speculation as to why this might have been.
Hopefully Facebook’s new hypervigilant A.I. golem is looking the other way, because I’m about to give it another shot:
If you’re in the area, consider dropping by Princeton Public Library on October 8 at 7 p.m. for my highly-subjective and occasionally even irrefutable observations on the evolution of movie music from the early days of silent film to the 21st century – with plenty of love lavished on some of my favorite, formative scores.
The event is free, so if you don’t like it, you’ll still get your money’s worth. Thanks to the Princeton Symphony Orchestra for cohosting the talk. Hope to see you there, and at one of the PSO’s future concerts!
Because of Einstein’s longtime association with Princeton, International Pi Day (3.14, get it?) is always a pretty big deal here. In fact, I see this year’s festivities are already underway – some of them actually took place on Saturday – with an Einstein look-alike contest, Pi memorization and recitation, Pi Day tours, and of course plenty of pie-tasting. That’s mostly what I care about.
In case you’re not an Archimedes fan, Pi, represented by the Greek letter “p” (“π”), is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159 – though you could take it a good deal further, since the number is wholly irrational and refuses to fall into a repeating pattern. This is clearly known by Mr. Spock when he uses it to confound an evil computer.
Einstein lived in Princeton for the last 21 ½ years of his life, during his residency at the Institute for Advanced Study, which, in its early days, was located temporarily on Princeton University campus. Scenes from “Oppenheimer” were shot at the institute’s current location, now 1 Einstein Drive, where it relocated in 1939.
Einstein’s house still stands at 112 Mercer Street. In accordance with his wishes, the house was not turned into a museum after his death in 1955. A lot of his furniture and a number of his belongings are on display at the Historical Society of Princeton’s Updike Farmstead, located at 354 Quaker Road.
Though Einstein’s house continues to be owned by IAS, it remains a private residence, as is made abundantly clear from signage posted about the property. The house was registered as a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976, but there is no marker to advertise the fact. Its significance, however, remains an open secret, and rare is the time I drive past that there’s not someone standing out front, taking a selfie.
According to Google Maps, I can walk there in about 40 minutes. I bet I could do it quicker. Maybe I will – and see if I can get someone to take a picture of me, standing next to the “Private Residence” sign on the front gate, eating pie.
Einstein was a great music lover. “Life without playing music was inconceivable for me,” he’s been quoted as saying. “I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music… I get most joy in life out of music.”
In 2018, Einstein’s violin sold at auction at Bonhams New York for $516,500 – five times the auction house’s estimate. The instrument was made in 1933 by Oscar H. Steger, a member of the Harrisburg (PA) Symphony Orchestra. Einstein gave the violin to Lawrence Wilson Hibbs, the son of Princeton janitor Sylas Hibbs. It remained in the Hibbs family until the time of its auctioning.
There’s a recording that has been circulated around the internet of Einstein playing a Mozart sonata, but don’t believe it. It’s a hoax, like too many other things on social media, shared without question, everyone so wanting to believe it’s Einstein playing the violin.
Is there an authentic recording somewhere? Maybe. But if it’s discovered, don’t count on Einstein playing as well as Carl Flesch or Arthur Grumiaux.
Einstein knew the composer Bohuslav Martinu when the latter was a visiting professor at Princeton University beginning in 1943. The two exchanged gifts. Einstein gave Martinu a signed copy of “The Evolution of Physics.” Martinu dedicated to Einstein his “Five Madrigal Stanzas.” Einstein would perform the work in a private recital with pianist Robert Casadesus. Would that someone had recorded it!
Einstein was also a good friend to contralto Marian Anderson. After giving a concert at McCarter Theater in 1937, Anderson was denied accommodations at the Nassau Inn. Einstein, who had attended the performance, took Anderson into his home. Thereafter, whenever she was in Princeton, Anderson stayed with Einstein until his death in 1955. I wrote more about it here:
By cosmic coincidence, Einstein was born on this date in 1879. He once observed, “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.” Is Pi, then, as a numerical sequence without limit, stupid? I guess it’s all relative.
When Walter Matthau played Einstein in the film “I.Q.,” a goofy romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Tim Robbins, shot in Princeton in 1994, a neighbor’s house, at 108 Mercer Street, was substituted for Einstein’s actual residence.
It’s not for nothing that Solti’s musicians nicknamed him the Screaming Skull. I was alerted to this story this morning on Norman Lebrecht’s blog, Slipped Disc.
Even more fearsome was CSO music director Fritz Reiner. And yet even Reiner had his soft side. Here’s a very different account of the CSO on tour:
You wouldn’t guess it now in the Princeton area, but there’s more rain on the way this afternoon. In fact, rain is in the forecast, to a greater or lesser extent, for the next week or more, mostly in the form of scattered thunderstorms. But you know how it is. It’s a very unstable time of year.
When it pours down rain, you can waste the opportunity by doing what I can’t help noticing a lot of people do much of the day anyway – flip through your phone. OR you could unplug and enjoy some quiet time with a book.
Even if I were Burgess Meredith in a post-apocalyptic world with “time enough at last,” my life couldn’t possibly be long enough to read everything I would like to. And that goes for listening to music also.
Having just polished off the “Kalevala” – the Finnish national epic that inspired so much of Sibelius’ music – and recently posted a photo of my library, reading is much on my mind lately.
Here’s one of many Classic Ross Amico crossword puzzles I compiled while we were all sitting at home during the first wave of COVID in 2020-21, a puzzle that celebrates two of life’s great pleasures – books and music!
To fill out the puzzle, follow the link and select “solve online” at the bottom of the page. You’ll then be able to type directly into the squares. Once you feel you’ve exhausted the puzzle, you’ll find the solutions by clicking on “Answer Key PDF.”
Rain or shine, summer is a great time to catch up on your reading. Pour yourself something cheering, relax, and enjoy!
Living well is the best revenge. Kenneth Hutchins and I yesterday, during his visit to Princeton – enjoying the good life, in “The Parlour” at illy At Earth’s End coffee shop.
