3 of the greatest men in history who were musicians
Nadia Dandachi, 20/01/2020
1- Benjamin Franklin
He is the man whose face you see printed on the hundred American dollar bill. Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) was one of the most important and influential founders of the United States of America.
Besides from being a statesman and diplomat, Franklin was also a scientist and influenced the world through his inventions. Through a dangerous experiment that almost took his life, shocked by electricity, he became known as its discoverer. He also proved that lightning is made of electricity, invented the bifocal lenses, the urinary catheter, swimming fins, the Franklin stove, and much more.
Benjamin Franklin playing his instrument, the Glass Harmonica.
Viola da Gamba
Benjamin Franklin was also a skilled musician and composer. He played the Viola da Gamba, and went on to invent his very own musical instrument: the Glass Harmonica.
Both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven have written music for the Glass Harmonica! The "Adagio and Rondo" K. 617 by Mozart is a quintet written for Franklin's instrument, and Beethoven used it in an 1814 melodrama Leonore Prohaska.
2- Albert Einstein
The renowned German-born theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein (1879-1955), is most known for his theory of relativity, one of the pillars of modern physics. He has published over 300 scientific papers and wrote the most famous equation in the world: E = mc 2.
In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Einstein's mother, Pauline Koch, was a very skilled pianist who taught him how to play the piano and the violin when he was a child. At first Albert loved the piano, but then grew a passion for the violin so big that he even named his violin - Lina!
He loved playing the violin to organize his thoughts, to brainstorm, and to come up with new ideas.
I know that the most joy in my life has come to me from my violin." - Albert Einstein"
3- Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452- 1519) was a rarity and one of the greatest minds of humankind. He was an Italian painter, engineer, scientist, botanist, geologist, and sculptor. There is evidence that suggests he played music regularly, on an instrument called the Lira da braccio. It was a very common hobby amongst the educated Italians of his day, and da Vinci enjoyed singing while he played.
He didn't stop there, however. Da Vinci created his own instrument, describing its intricate structures but never building it, therefore never hearing what it sounded like himself. In fact, nobody heard it until 2013, when a Polish instruments maker, Sławomir Zubrzycki, constructed the now 500-year old instrument.
Leonardo da Vinci's instrument, built by Sławomir Zubrzycki
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