I was fond of music programs from many different countries. I have to confess that, thanks to the Korean War (1950-53), I did not have to learn how to play musical instruments. I do not even know how to read musical notes. They look like bean sprouts over five horizontal lines. Yet, God has given me a very large hard disk in my brain. I thus have recordings of music stored in my hard disk.

In addition to being a physicist, I have a Korean background. Koreans are music-loving people. If you like to meet Koreans, wait in front of Frederick Chopin's grave in Paris. They will show up within an hour. There are many Korean students in Salzburg (Austria), and there are also many Koreans studying at Julliard and other music schools in the United States. Korea produced many famous violin, cello, and piano players. Let us look at the photos.

• Beethoven's Statue, near the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn (Germany). Ludwig van Beethoven was born at a house located inside this museum complex.
  1. String Instruments once owned by Ludwig van Beethoven. They are displayed in the Beethovenhaus.
  2. Mozart Dress at the Chanbronne Palace Concert Hall in Vienna (December 2006). The statue of Mozart in Salzburg (1997).
  3. Chopin. After he died, his body was buried in Paris, but his heart was extracted from his body and transported to Warsaw to be entombed into the wall of the Church of Holy Cross near the main campus of Warsaw University and the stature of Copernicus.
     Click here for the church and the statue.
     
  4. Edith Piaf: Her grave at the Pere LaChaise Cemetry in Paris (2000).
  5. Franz Liszt at the Franz Liszt Square in Budapest (2008). Another Liszt at the Margarita Island in Budapest (2003).
  6. Zoltan Kodaly, at the Margarita Island in Budapest (2003). He was the most Hungarian Hungarian composer. With me was a Hungarian student who enjoyed talking about music with me. Hungary is a great music country.
  7. Johann Sebastian Bach in the lobby of Musikverein (Vienna 2007).

  

• Rimma Sushanskaya was David Oistrach's youngest student and is of course an established violinist. I met her at one of London's Chinese restaurants in 1999. We became close enough to produce this photo after we found out we both like an Armenian composer named Aram Khachaturyan. This lady looks like (looks better than) than Tatyana Samoilova who was a Russian actress who acted as Veronica in the classic film "Cranes are flying" produced by Mikhail Kalatazov in 1957. Many Russians believe she is the real Tatayana. Click here for her home page.
  1. Irina Bachkova is a professor at Moscow Conservatory located near Moscow's Bolshoi theater. She was born in Kazan (Russia) and was in Kazan during the summer of 2001 to be with her mother. At Kazan State University, while attending the 2001 Volga meeting of theoretical physics, I heard her playing Beethoven's violin sonata No. 5 "Spring." I heard this Sonata when I was a high-school boy, and decided to live like the Spring Sonata. She was therefore playing my life. I was so happy that I gave her a postcard carrying a photo of Beethoven's four string instruments from my portable photo album. By giving this card, I was able to convince her that I was a Beethoven lover. She also told me she becomes very happy whenever she plays Beethoven's sonatas. Beethoven wrote ten violin sonatas, and his fifth and ninth sonatas, known as Spring and Kreutzer respectively, are very popular among Koreans.
  2. Russian Ballerinas. Russians produce great ballets, and those ballerinas look like dolls or angeles on the stage. How would they look when they are passengers on an airplane. I met these ladies on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Kazan (June 2001). This photo was taken when we were waiting on line for passport inspection at Kazan's international airport. They are holding their Russian passports (2001).
  3. Praha Quartet. Music students in Prague (2001).
  4. Alice Conway (CSEP) plays harp on the reception floor of the Ritz-Carton Hotel at Tyson's Galleria not far from Washington, DC (February 2005). In addition to luxurious amenities, this hotel offers live music performed by high-class musicians.
  5. Heather McAuliffe plays piano also at the Ritz-Carlton. I was very happy to hear that she studied music at the University of Maryland. This photo was taken in February, 2005. I visited her again in April of 2006, and produced this photo.

• Einstein liked music. He used to play violin.
  1. Christmas Morning at Einstein's house.

     Some of my physics colleagues are more fortunate than I am. They married world-class musicians.

  2. Francesca. Renato Fedele of Naples married this soprano singer. In June of 1994, we were making a tour of Sicily while attending one of the Erice conferences. She started singing when we went to this Greek-style amphitheater with excellent acoustic condition. I am listening. Sicily was a Greek colony some years ago, and there are also Greek temples in this island. Here is one of them. Her husband is an Italian physicist, Renato Fedele. Here is my photo with him taken at the gladiator's quarter where Spartacus used to live, in Caserta near Naples.
  3. Agnes is another world-class soprano singer, and her husband is John Klauder. Here gave a concert during the 25th Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics held in Cocoyoc, Mexico (August 2004). Here, she is making preparations for her next song.
     Two years earlier, in 2004, she gave a concert during the Wigner Centennial Conference held in Pecs, Hungary. Hungary is her native country. After the concert, she is with a young Hungarian lady who assisted her on the backstage. She looks better in a photo with her husband . How about the young lady with her? She also has a photo with a famous physicist. Speaking of John Klauder, he was several years ahead of me when we were students at Princeton. He has always been helpful to me whenever I needed help from someone. Here is my photo with him taken during the Cocoyoc conference (August 2004).

• Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo. Before coming to the United States in 1954, I used to pick up Japanese music programs using my shortwave radio (Hallicrafters S-50). At that time, the Hibiya Hall was Japan's most prestigious performing art center. I used to hear and tape-record live broadcasts from there. For instance, in July of 1953, I recorded Suwa Nejiko's historic performance of Violin Concerto No. 3 by Saint Saens. The Hibiya Hall is located at the south-west corner of Tokyo's Hibiya Park south of the Imperial Palace. These days, Tokyo's music center is the Santori Hall located in the Shibuya District, and the Hibiya Hall is used for rock concerts. This photo was taken in 1996.
  
  1. Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. during the performance of a North Korean musical entitled "A girl who sells flowers" (1990). Here is the Czar's seat.
  2. Kremlin Theater in Moscow, after the performance of Mikhail Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila (1992).
  3. La Traviata in Sydney. With a Korean student at one of the bay-side restaurants in Sydney (Australia). In the background (across the bay, not seen in the evening) is the Sydney opera house (one of the most famous buildings in the world). One hour earlier, we were in the opera house enjoying Verdi's La Traviata (July 1998).
  4. Grand Festival Hall, in Salzburg (Austria). At the conclusion of a performance of Modest Musorgsky's "Boris Godunov" (August 1997).
  5. Paris Opera House, during the performance of Adolfe Adam's Giselle (July 2000).
  6. Lincoln Center in New York. The Opera House is in the center between the New York State Theater (left) and the Avery Fisher Philharmonic Hall (right). This photo was taken in 2004.
     Christmas Tree at the Lincoln Center. In the background is the Avery Fisher Hall (2007).
     Cafe Fiorello. Many people come to this Italian restaurant after their events at the Lincoln Center. You can meet some interesting people here, often from your own hometown. Here is the restaurants webpage.

     

  7. Frankfurt Opera House. After a performance of I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo (June 2001). As usual, this opera was preceded by Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascani.
     Intermission. It is always a pleasure to meet interesting people during the coffee break.
  8. Smetana Hall in Prague before a performance of Mozart's requiem (2001).
  9. Kennedy's Bust, in the main lobby of Washington's Kennedy Center for Performing Arts (February 2002). The Center seen from Washington's Georgetown. The Watergate residential complex, the Arlington-Memorial Bridge, a floating restaurant "Odyssey", and a helicopter carrying an important person are also seen (July 2004).
  10. La Scala in Milan is regarded as the most famous opera house in the world. This is the stage scene after a performance of Bela Bortok's Blue Beard's Castle (May 2008). This opera house went through a major renovation in recent years. It looked like this in (2000). The interior is now very neat and elegant (2008). Across the street is a monument of Leornado da Vinci overlooking the opera house.

  

• Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, home of the Kirov Ballet. With me was a young Russian lady named Daria Lomagina (2003). When we went there, there were no performances. However, the Kirov Ballet is international, and it is easy to see its performances in the United States.
  1. Kirov Ballet. after a performance of La Bayadere at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC (USA 2008). La Bayadere was premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1877.
  2. Spanish Dance in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. This photo was taken while the dancers were acknowledging the applause after the performance of the Spanish dance in Minsk's opera house (May 2002).
  3. Royal Opera House before the performance of Franz Liszt's ballet "Myerling" (2004).
  4. Semper Opera House in Dresden (June 2004).
     Intermission between the first and second acts of Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freischuts," held outside the opera building. It is customary to drink champaign during the o pera intermissions.
  5. New York Pops Orchestra performing at New York's Central Park (July 2004).
  6. Johann Strauss Theater in Vienna (2007).
     I was inside for a Mozart Festival (1997).
  7. Musikverein (2007). The New year's waltz concert is held at this music hall every year and is broadcast throughout the world. I was inside in October of 2007 for a Mozart festival.
  8. Vienna Opera House, after the performance of Coppelia by Leo Delibes (2007). Higher Rings seen from an orchestra seat.
  9. Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest (2008).

• Musicians in London. I met them while walking from Covent Garden to Piccadilly Circus. I was walking with Vladimir Man'ko whom I met unexpectedly in front of the Covent Garden Opera House (1993).
  
  1. Russian Dance during the reception for the participants of the first Sakharov Conference in Moscow (1991).
  2. Flamenco Dancers in Madrid, at one of the flamenco night clubs (1992). Here is another photo.
  3. Musicians in Cocoyoc (Mexico, 1994). Accordion and Guitar!
  4. Vienna 1997. Accordion music.
  5. Hungarian Dancers. Hungarians love to dance. Dance scenes like this prompted Johannes Brahms to compose his Hungarian dances (Pecs, July 2002).
  6. Hungarian Band. I like band music. I was indeed happy to march with high-school students (Pecs 2002).
  7. Proschanie Slavianki. Russian military march I used to hear from my high-school band.
  8. Troubadour musicians at the Cabaret du Roy in Old Montreal (Canada 2004).
  9. Hofbrau-Haus musicians in Munich (June 2004).
  10. Ukrainian Folk Musisians in Kiev (October 2006).
      Traditional Ukrainian Instrument.
  11. Musicians on the Charles Bridge in Prague (2007).
  12. Fire Dancers at Krakow's Market Square (Poland 2007).
• Stalin Organ. I also have a photo with her in front of an unusual instrument. With me was a young Russian lady whose father was a tank commander during the "Great Patriotic War" (World War II).

• Let us listen to Feynman from http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/03/05/richard-feynman-needs-his-orange-juice/.

• Cranes are dancing. If I like music somewhat excessively, it is due to my Korean background. Indeed, Koreans are music crazy people. During the 6th century, a Korean musician developed a guitar and played it. The music was so attractive to cranes in the sky that they came down to the ground to dance to the tunes of this musical instrument. Click here for my photo with a Korean lady who can play this instrument. Her instrument was made in North Korea. Korea used to be one country until 1945, and both Koreas share the same cultural background.

  Waves of the Danube. I grew up in a music-loving environment in Korea. When I was 12 years old, my female classmates danced to the waltz "Waves of the Danube" composed by Josef Ivanovich. They looked like dancing cranes in the Korean legend. This is how I developed my interest in music. At that time, I did not know the title of this waltz, but continued my research on this subject.

  How many of you know the composer was a Romanian? Not many Romanians know this because his name is quite different from the usual Romanian name, such as Chiachecu, Enescu, Dumitru, all ending with "u". On December 1 (2002), I was on a Lufthansa flight from Warsaw to Frankfurt. Next to my seat was a very intelligent Romanian lady. She confirmed to me that Ivanovich was a Romanian.

  These young girls used to dance also to the "Over the Waves" by Juventano Rosas (Mexican composer). This is still my favorite music. While I was dining at Vienna's Augustinerkeller restaurant in December (2006), I asked this accordionist to play the Over the Waves. I was there six years earlier and met some interesting people.