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Ernst Mach

Perhaps Mach’$ most curious influence on a student was on Wilhelm Kienzl (1857-1941) "'ho studied acoustics under him in 1876. The lyoungman dutifully rcad Hclmholtz’s Thcory of Tonę Pcrccptions and Octtingcr’s A Harmony System in Dual Deuelopment, and learned how to operate the resonators and monochords in Machs laboratory. He even gavc a succcssful Kolloąuium on acoustics, which happened to mark his ninctcenth birthday, but apparently Mach was not dc-ceived. “1 his good and wisc teacher rccognizcd well the naturę of my gift as ovcr\vhelmingly artistic and not scientific. He lookcd on my conscientiousncss \vith interest . . . and well-mcaning smiles.

One day Mach showed young Kienzl a dramatic poem by the Indian dramatist, Kalidasa, and suggested that Vrvasi as it was callcd could be adapted into a succcssful opera. "He gavc mc a copy of Lobedanz’s frcc translation of the imaginative Indian work. I was so enthusiastie and carricd away that although I was no way capable of composing a great musical piece at the time I eagerly began to learn fundamcntals in order to preparc myself."³⁰ Five ycars later Kienzl started the ac-tual composition. The work was completcd in 1884 and First staged in 1886 at the Hoftheater in Dresdcn under Ernst Schuch, who expcri-cnccd at that time the first of his many brilliant and successful produc-tions. Both of these "Ernsts” [Mach and Schuch] wcrc thercforc quitc seriously the founders of my carccr as a dramatic composer." ³¹

The success of Uruasi cncouragcd Kienzl to writc other operas, in-cluding his best-known one, Der Evangelimann, which continues to be frequcntly staged in Austria today. The Mach-inspired U wasi was itself revived in 1910, 1912, and in 1932. Kienzl also composcd the na-tional anthem for the First Austrian Republic in 1919.

Fine as Machs relations werc with many Czech and German-speak-ing students, there was at least one rclationship which bccamc decidedly unpleasant and which hclpcd seriously to underminc his never too stablc health. Below is a translation of a strange Mach documcnt found among those of his papers sent to the Ernst-Mach-Institut in 1967. Apparently it was originally intended to be read in case of his dcath, but later he apparently forgot about it. Aciually, there are four docu-ments, two of which are rclcvant herc.

In the year 1876 my assistant J. IVosy\a was dischargcd at oncc from the institutc bccause of bookstealing. I have replaccd the books. I havc fallcn, bccausc of this bchavior of Wosylca's, who was indebted to mc for many things, into an cmotional depression which has madę mc for ycars incapable

of work. First aftcr scvcral ycars f was so f_ar

suadc myself that equipmcnt was alto    lf i™?*,,^{lhal 1 Cou}W per-

thing has bccn rcplaccd this will _Scrvc for cxnl    ? ^d‘^C Ufore cvcryto lock up the Institutc cvcry cvcning. f But 1 L„rT    ^to°^k

against a thief in the housc, who in ' * cZ_c?Z^aVX*^d^_^not «■*« therefore seldom contcstcd things. Thcsc procccdinJ k    ^{UScd and}

my joy in lifc, [but] one should not condcmn him t^ ^ [°^{bbcd mc of}

I have givcn rcspcct to Wosyka. Whcn hc arrived " •    ^1886,1

aftcr many ycars I hcld myself obliged to tell h;.    ^a?*^{,n at 3} P°™ion

havior. Also Wosyka is awarc that one knows ind^- ⁰^ l!* ^{past bc}* said to havc hecn upright umil now. I <j_on\ u' ^W3tc^« him. He i_s mcntal about him. Since I havc taken carc of _aii ^_f^a,?^yłh!^{ng c,sc d}«n-could hc traccd hack to this sourcc there is no Inna ^{damaRe which} ,U prosccute him. Hut the facts shall „_{ot re}m_ai_n „nkńown.^,^ ”^^ich

The discovety of Wosyka’s behavior, besides dcoressina ml., the onset of forttficatton scotoma, an abnormality of th/eye ^ •' 'a

with high blood pressure and migraine headachcs. Hcre are nT^ cnccs to Mach s ailment.    ‘ ^{lwo rc}fcr-

“Thus, ycars ago on a number of succcssivc days, a bright red capil-lary net (similar to a so-callcd cnchantcd net) shonc out upon the book in which I was rcading, or on my writing paper."³² A letter from Paul Carus to Mach went into morę detali: "I am very much obliged to you for communicating your cxpcricnce to mc, conccrning blood pressure. I will say in rcply that 1 had the same kind of phenomenon in my lcft cye which you dcscribe. The spots in the eye are as you say fortifica* tion designs and in one casc likc latticcd lcavcs, only the lcaves were not green but grey. Rut finally the wholc cye bccame grey. The film becamc elear but the center of vision is slill blind.” ³³ A number of points should be added to help clarify this gencrally unknown, but in sonie respeets important incidcnt. First, cvcn as carly as 1868 there was a letter from one of Mach’s assistants protesting to Mach that he had not stolcu anything from the laboraiory. Apparently cven then Mach had such thoughts on his mind.^3ł Second, the Uni-vcrsity of Praguc bullctin listed “Wossica” as Machs assislant a ycar after the incident is supposed to havc happened. Hence, presumably, either the bulletin was wrong or Mach misdated the happening³⁵ Third, there is the qucstion of the actual effect of the incidcnt on Mach’s cxperimcntal work. That hc cotuinued somc lahoratory in-vestigations in subsequent ycars is evidcnt cnough, but it is truć that after 1875 there was a marked decline in the number of his published

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