Aubert, George (ca. 1920)
Aubert, George (ca. 1920)
Nonprofessional French musical medium who claimed to play the piano under the control of classical composers. His performance was investigated in 1906 by the Institut Général Psychologique in Paris. Various tests were devised to eliminate conscious operation. They asked him to play a Mozart Sonata blindfolded and started two gramophones at the same time, leading the tubes of them into his ears. He did it to perfection. In another experiment Aubert continued playing while he read slowly and attentively a philosophical work that was put before him. The names of the spirit musicians were given as Beethoven, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and others. Aubert never studied harmony, technique, or improvisation. However, his improvisations were never reproduced and, all except the records taken at the Institut Général Psychologique, are lost. The story of Aubert's mediumship is told by himself in La Mediumnité Spirite (Paris, 1920). Similar musical mediumship has been demonstrated by Rosemary Brown and Jesse F. G. Shepard.