Observations placeholder
Sibelius - Karl Ekman quoting Sibelius on his synaesthesia
Identifier
012239
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
We do not know why he was a synaesthete
A description of the experience
Ekman, Karl. 1938. Jean Sibelius: His life and personality. Translated from the Finnish by Edward Birse. New York: Alfred A. Knopf./Adolf Paul (1890), En Bok om en Människa, as quoted in Ekman 1938: 41-42
For him there existed a strange, mysterious connection between sound and color, between the most secret perceptions of the eye and ear. Everything he saw produced a corresponding impression on his ear – every impression of sound was transferred and fixed as color on the retina of his eye and thence to his memory. And this he thought as natural, with as good reason as those who did not possess this faculty called him crazy or affectedly original."
"For this reason he only spoke of this in the strictest confidence and under a pledge of silence. 'For otherwise they will make fun of me!'