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Alfred Einstein (December 30, 1880February 13, 1952) was a
German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...
musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
and music editor. He was born in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, and fled
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
after Hitler's '' Machtergreifung'', arriving in the United States by 1939. He is best known for being the editor of the first major revision of the
Köchel catalogue The Köchel catalogue () is a catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, originally created by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, in which the entries are abbreviated ''K.'' or ''KV''. Its numbers reflect the ongoing task of compiling the chro ...
, which was published in 1936. The Köchel catalogue is the extensive catalogue of the works of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
.


Biography

Einstein was born in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. Though he originally studied law, he quickly realized his principal love was music, and he acquired a doctorate at Munich University, focusing on instrumental music of the late
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
and early
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
eras, in particular music for the
viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...
. In 1918 he became the first editor of the '' Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft''; slightly later he became music critic for the ''Münchner Post''; and in 1927 became music critic for the ''Berliner Tageblatt''. In this period he was also a friend of the composer Heinrich Kaspar Schmid in Munich and Augsburg. In 1933, after Hitler's rise to power, he left
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, moving first to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, then to Italy, and finally to the United States in 1939, where he held a succession of teaching posts at universities including
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
,
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
,
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, and the Hartt School of Music in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. Einstein not only researched and wrote detailed works on specific topics, but wrote popular histories of music, including the ''Short History of Music'' (1917), and ''Greatness in Music'' (1941). In particular, due to his depth of familiarity with
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
, he published an important and extensive revision of the
Köchel catalogue The Köchel catalogue () is a catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, originally created by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, in which the entries are abbreviated ''K.'' or ''KV''. Its numbers reflect the ongoing task of compiling the chro ...
of Mozart's music (1936). It is this work for which Einstein is most well known. Einstein also published a comprehensive, three-volume set ''The Italian Madrigal'' (1949) on the secular Italian form, the first detailed study of the subject. His 1945 volume ''Mozart: His Character, His Work'' was an influential study of Mozart and is perhaps his best known book.


Relationship to Albert Einstein

While one source (1980) lists Alfred as a cousin of the scientist
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
, another claims (1993) that no relationship has been verified. Some websites claim they were both descended from a Moyses Einstein seven generations back, hence they were sixth cousins. In 1991, Alfred's daughter Eva stated that they were not related. On the other hand, she wrote in 2003 that they were fifth cousins on one side, and fifth cousins once removed on the other, according to research by George Arnstein. They were photographed together in 1947 when Albert Einstein received an honorary doctorate from Princeton, but they did not know that they were distantly related.


Works

* ''Gluck'' (Master Musicians Series-Series Editor Eric Blom), translated by Eric Blom, J. M. Dent & Sons LTD, 1936 * ''A Short History of Music'', translation of ''Geschichte der Musik'', 1937, rev. 1938, 1947 * ''Canzoni Sonetti Strambotti et Frottole. Libro Tertio ( Andrea Antico, 1517).'' Smith College: Northampton, MA, 1941 * ''Golden Age of the Madrigal: Twelve Five-Part Mixed Choruses.'' G. Schirmer: New York, 1942 * ''Greatness in Music'', translation of ''Grösse in der Musik'' by César Saerchinger,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1941 * ''Mozart: His Character, His Work'', translated by Arthur Mendel and Nathan Broder, Oxford University Press, 1945 * ''Music in the Romantic Era: A History of Musical Thought in the 19th Century'', 1947, rev. 1949 * ''The Italian Madrigal'', translated by Alexander H. Krappe, Roger H. Sessions, and Oliver Strunk,
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
, 1949 (3 volumes) * ''Schubert'', translated by David Ascoli, Cassell & Co., 1951


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Einstein, Alfred 1880 births 1952 deaths American musicologists American music critics Jewish musicologists Smith College faculty Columbia University faculty Princeton University faculty University of Michigan faculty Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States German music critics Jewish American non-fiction writers Writers from Munich Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Mozart scholars Schubert scholars University of Hartford Hartt School faculty German biographers 20th-century American biographers American male biographers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century German musicologists Berliner Tageblatt people Scholars of Romantic music Hindemith scholars Lassus scholars