Interesting stories about Rubinstein's memory

[Majed]

This is another topic about memory.

Although I believe there are ways to "improve" ones ability to
memorize, I firmly believe (as others here have noted) that
photographic memory (and such) is largely "hard-wired" into the
brain. You either "have it" or you don't!

I'll share some interesting anecdotes about Arthur Rubinstein's
phenomenal memory for those members relatively new to these forums,
in which this subject has been discussed several times:

1. Rubinstein wrote an article entitled "How Can I Become a
Pianist?" for the June 1948 edition of "The Etude" magazine (now
defunct). On the subject of memorization he writes:

"... In my own case, I have an excellent memory ï؟½ here let me touch
wood, for I am superstitious - but it is a visual memory, inherited
from my father, and not really a musical thing at all. At the moment
of hearing a new work, I can write it down by ear; but an hour later,
this strictly aural memory has faded somewhat. If I look at a score,
however, I can learn it and play it and remember it, without any
further aid. This, I repeat, is a matter of PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION (my
emphasis) and not a matter of music ï؟½ still, it has the profoundest
influence on the way I study. Much of my repertoire has been
mastered entirely through reading, without simultaneous work at the
keyboard. For me it is a good and useful thing. For someone else,
it might be absolutely harmful."

2. Another story, with more emphasis on Rubinstein's playing
by "EAR" - In 1915, Rubinstein was about to give his first
performance of the Tchaikovsky 1st (ironically with his to be future
father-in-law, Emil Mlynarski. During their first practice session,
EM was concerned about the mistakes AR was making and learned that AR
had NEVER seen the score before, playing it from memory as he had
heard it played by others. EM gave AR the score and, after an
afternoon's study of the piece, AR was able to play it "perfectly"
that night (at least according to EM).

3. Time Magazine some time ago recounted various examples of AR's
unusual memory:

"... Rubinstein' s feats of memory are legendary. In 1903 he caused a
sensation in Warsaw by performing Paderewski's Sonata in E Flat Minor
the day after it was published; he learned Cesar Franck's complex
Symphonic Variations on the train en route to a concert hall in
Madrid. He can commit a sonata to memory in one hour, and he can play
as many as 250 lieder. His friends used to play a kind of "Stump
Artur" game in which they would call out titlesï؟½excerpts from
symphonies, operas, Cole Porter scoresï؟½to see if he could play
them. "Stumped Friends" would have been a better name for
it. "Rubinstein, " says Conductor Edouard van Remoortel, "is the only
pianist you could wake up at midnight and ask to play any of the 38
major piano concertos." "When I play, I turn the pages in my mind,"
he explains, "and I know that in the bottom right-hand corner of this
page is a little coffee stain, and on that page I have written molto
vivace." He has, in fact, a kind of built-in Hit Parade network that
spins music on request through his inner ear. "At breakfast," says
Rubinstein, "I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head. Then I am
called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on
all the time and I'm in the third movement." (end of quotes)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In recent news, human "hubris" was moved down a notch or so when
Japanese eseachers announced that a chimpanzee had out-performed all
college students in a type of "memorization" test (involving rapid
number recall). Of course, this one test in itself is not
conclusive, although it does hint at some evolutionary advantage for
apes to have the need for an advanced memory while human brains may
be more specialized for language skills and such. This is a gross
simplification, I know, but it does remind us to keep an open mind as
we try to probe the mysteries of our brains!

Perhaps the pianist Vladimir de Pachmann represented the best of both
worlds... wasn' t he referred to as the "Chopinzee?" (Sorry...!)

Jon Cahill