Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Mozart

  • Oliver Sacks and caring for the whole person

    Margaret Marcum Boca Raton, Florida   Body shapes, female. Martin Addison. Wellcome Collection. CC BY 4.0. The neurologist Oliver Sacks—“The Poet Laureate of Medicine” according to The New York Times—developed an effective clinical method of treating the patient as a complete person rather than as a defective body part. He wrote that clinicians “are concerned…

  • The lost art and the hidden treasure

    Jennifer Bingham Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania   It is the moment we catch ourselves wishing someone had mentioned how many pieces were in this puzzle that we look up to find progress. Photo by Pixabay from Pexels. The puzzle box is empty and the pieces are scattered across the table. After all, a puzzle was never meant…

  • Visualizing Mozart

    Vincent de Luise New Haven, Connecticut, United States     Figure 1. Portrait of Mozart by his brother-in-law, Joseph Lange (©Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum) The music, life, and legacy of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, 1756-1791) continue to fascinate and enthrall.1,10,15,19, Footnote 1 Mozart has been the subject of more books, articles, and…

  • Mozart’s “effect” on us: A review of an aspect of music and cognition

    Vincent de LuiseNew Haven, Connecticut, United States For decades, neuroscientists have explored whether there exists a causal relationship between listening to music and enhancement of cognitive ability. Does music make one smarter? Can listening to music lead to more memory and greater intellect? Does listening specifically to the music of Wolfgang Mozart improve cognitive ability?…

  • Ice cream or Mozart?

    Leon Morgenstern Los Angeles, California, United States   How would I answer a question if the quality of my life depended on the answer? A recent article about end-of-life decisions1 discussed how a worried daughter had sprung the following questions as her father was about to undergo a very risky operation: how much pain he…

  • When the sensory lens is an artistic prism: the brain, Kandinsky, and multisensory art

    Gregory W. RuteckiCleveland, Ohio, United States In 1812 an Austrian physician named Georg Sachs published a medical dissertation about his family’s albinism.1,2 Conspicuous by inclusion, Sachs claimed to simultaneously hear and see colored music. His claim of a sensory duality is considered the first explicit mention of what would be later identified as synesthesia (from…