Science and the arts are sometimes viewed as opposites, but for revered scientist Albert Einstein, the two subjects were inextricably linked.
Einstein introduced the world to his Theory of Special Relativity in 1905 and his Theory of General Relativity in 1916. He also provided the groundwork for modern quantum theory. His passion for scientific experimentation matched his passion for the violin. He once remarked to the Saturday Evening Post in 1929, “If … I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician.”
Music as a Refuge
In an article featured in National Geographic, Mitch Waldrop wrote, “Music was far more than a sideline to Einstein’s work; it was central to everything he thought and did.”
While Einstein worked on equations like his famous E=mc², which posits that mass and energy are interchangeable, his beloved violin was never far out of reach. In Walter Isaacson’s 2008 biography of the German physicist, “Einstein: His Life and Universe,” the author states, “Music was no mere diversion. On the contrary, it helped him think.”
In an article for Strings Magazine, Rebecca Rego Barry wrote that Einstein’s son, Hans Albert, once said of his father, “Whenever he felt that he had come to the end of the road or faced a difficult challenge in this work, he would take refuge in music and that would solve all his difficulties.”
A Dutiful Son and a Musical Discovery
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was born in Ulm, Germany to Hermann and Pauline. When he was 6 years old, Pauline began taking young Albert to violin lessons. A talented pianist herself, she viewed music as an important part of a child’s education and development. At first, her son wasn’t thrilled about dedicating his time to lessons and practice, but he stuck with the instrument for several years.
Then, at the age of 13, he discovered Mozart’s violin sonatas. Though he once viewed practicing the violin as a dutiful task that pleased his mother, things changed after his discovery. Learning violin music now felt like endless play to the blossoming visionary. His discovery of Mozart was the catalyst to a lifelong love affair, especially classical compositions.
In 1933, Einstein moved to America to escape Nazi-occupied Germany. Upon his arrival, he headed to New Jersey, where he’d accepted a position as a professor at Princeton. In the Garden State, he solidified his reputation as not only a gifted scientist but also a passionate musician.
During his tenure at Princeton, he could be found at his friends’ homes playing chamber music during their gatherings. During holidays, he’d often set out about his neighborhood playing his violin for neighbors and getting everyone in a festive spirit. He even joined carolers as they sang Christmas songs door-to-door.
He also hosted weekly music sessions at his home every Wednesday, creating a casual setting for his musician friends to play some of their favorite works.
Einstein was a passionate, yet self-confessed amateur violinist. To this day there’s debate on whether he was as good as his reputation suggests. No recording exists of him playing, so we must rely on accounts from those familiar with his playing style. These offer different opinions.
In her article, Barry wrote that Ian Ehling, the New York director of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams Auction House, said, “The jury is out about whether he was good at playing the violin, but he was definitely passionate about it.”
One funny anecdote comes from a time that Einstein played in a quartet. Violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler was less than impressed:
“Legend has it that when he missed yet another entrance while playing in a quartet with Fritz Kreisler, the great violin virtuoso turned to him and asked, “What’s the matter, professor? Can’t you count?”
Despite his occasional shortcomings with timing, his peers viewed his ability to convey emotional depth in whatever work he played as impressive. One of Einstein’s friends once noted, “there are many musicians with much better technique, but none, I believe, who ever played with more sincerity or deeper feeling.”
‘The Beauty of Harmonies’
In his biography on Einstein, Isaacson detailed how music revealed the laws of nature to the physicist. This created an inseparable connection “to the harmony underlying the universe, to the creative genius of the great composers, and to other people who felt comfortable bonding with more than just words. He was awed, both in music and in physics, by the beauty of harmonies.”
For the amateur musician, both Mozart and Bach were the composers who best channeled the order of the universe in their works. Einstein once wrote, “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe itself.”
In his National Geographic article, Waldrop explained the possible reason that Mozart and Bach were Einstein’s favorite composers: “The music of Bach and Mozart has much the same clarity, simplicity, and architectural perfection that Einstein always sought in his own theories.”
The violin was made by a cellist and cabinet maker, Oscar H. Steger, who constructed musical instruments when he found the time. The instrument features different woods, including maple sides and a spruce top. It also dons a classic scroll headstock. The inscription carved by Steger reads, “Made for the Worlds [sic] Greatest Scientist Professor [sic] Albert Einstein By Oscar H. Steger, Feb 1933/Harrisburg, PA.”
As Einstein aged, he lost the ability to play properly across the violin’s neck with his left hand. Though he could no longer perform, he remained active in the classical music community.
After Einstein’s death in April 1955, writer Jerome Weidman penned a tribute to the late professor titled, “The Night I Met Einstein.” Published in Reader’s Digest, the story details the evening Einstein inadvertently helped Weidman overcome his “tone deaf” ear while at a dinner party. He escorted the writer to a study and put on several records. Before Weidman knew it, he was participating in pitch training, singing back melodies to Einstein after they played on the record, per the scientist’s instructions.
Weidman was floored when they returned to the chamber music accompanying the dinner and he, for the first time ever, had a general sense of the notes and melodies being played.
When Einstein explained to the dinner’s hostess what the two had been up to, he said, “My young friend here and I … were engaged in the greatest activity of which man is capable.”
When she asked what that activity was, Einstein smiled, and said: “Opening up yet another fragment of the frontier of beauty.”
