einstein&music

EINSTEIN 2005

Einstein and his love of musicAs a keen and talented violinist, music was one of Einstein’s life-long passions. His musical tastes, however, were distinctly conservative, as Brian Fosterexplains

As we celebrate the centenary ofhis seminal1905 papers,it is humbling to note that Ein-stein was not only the outstanding scientistofthe 20th century,but also a gifted andenthusiastic musician.He once said that hadhe not been a scientist,he would have been amusician.“Life without playing music is in-conceivable for me,”he declared.“I live mydaydreams in music.I see my life in terms ofmusic…I get most joy in life out ofmusic.”Einstein’s mother,Pauline,was a talentedpianist who brought music to life in the fam-ily home.Albert began to learn the violin atthe age ofsix,while his family was still livingin Munich.However,he toiled under un-imaginative tuition until discovering the joysofMozart’s sonatas at the age of13.Fromthat point on,although he had no furtherlessons,his violin remained his constantcompanion.

When Einstein moved to Aarau in Swit-zerland in 1895 to complete his schooling,he seems to have devoted a good deal ofhistime to music.It is recorded that he workedhard on the Brahms G-major violin sonatain order to get the full benefit from a visit toAarau ofthe great violinistJosephJoachim,on whose programme it appeared.

Just before his 17th birthday Albert playedat a music examination in the cantonalschool.The inspector reported that “a stu-dent called Einstein shone in a deeply feltperformance ofan adagio from one oftheBeethoven sonatas”.In addition to hisprowess on the violin,he also played thepiano and,in particular,loved to improvise.Music for fun and physics

Music was not only a relaxation to Einstein,it also helped him in his work.His secondwife,Elsa,gives a rare glimpse oftheir homelife in Berlin.“As a little girl,I fell in love withAlbert because he played Mozart so beauti-fully on the violin,”she once wrote.“He alsoplays the piano.Music helps him when he isthinking about his theories.He goes to hisstudy,comes back,strikes a few chords onthe piano,jots something down,returns tohis study.”

In later life,his fame as a physicist oftenled to invitations to perform at benefit con-certs,which he generally accepted eagerly.At one such event,a critic – unaware ofEin-stein’s real claim to fame as a physicist –wrote,“Einstein plays excellently.However,his world-wide fame is undeserved.Thereare many violinists who are just as good”.One wag,on leaving another concert inwhich Einstein had played,commented,“Isuppose now [the Austrian violinist] Fritz

PHYSICSWORLD

JANUARY2005

Kreisler is going to start giving physics lec-tures”.

There are nevertheless conflicting ac-counts ofhis musical abilities.Probably theleast generous come from great artists,ofwhom Einstein counted many as personalfriends as well as chamber-music partners.These included the pianist Artur Rubin-stein,the cellist Gregor Piatigorski,andBronislaw Huberman,one ofthe most re-markable and idiosyncratic violin virtuososofthe 20th century.

In 1936 Huberman visited Einstein inPrinceton to discuss his plans to found theorchestra that eventually became the IsraelPhilharmonic,ofwhich Einstein was aprominent supporter.Probably the sum-mary ofEinstein the violinist that comes

nearest to the mark comes from his friendJanos Plesch,who wrote,“There are manymusicians with much better technique,butnone,I believe,who ever played with moresincerity or deeper feeling”.

Conservative tastes

The physics revolutionary who overturnedthe classical universe ofNewton was none-theless deeply conservative in his musicaltastes.He adored Mozart and worshippedBach,ofwhom he wrote in response to aneditor,“I have this to say about Bach’sworks:listen,play,love,revere – and keepyour trap shut”.Beethoven he admired butdid not love,while Schubert,Schumannand Brahms gained only guarded and par-tial approval.

Indeed,the more contemporary the com-poser,the less enthusiastic Einstein became.OfWagner he said,“I admire Wagner’sinventiveness,but I see his lack ofarchitec-tural structure as decadence.Moreover,tome his musical personality is indescribablyoffensive so that for the most part I can listento him only with disgust”.

Despite having been offered the chance toown a Guarneri,Einstein preferred to play amuch less distinguished violin,leaving thegreat instruments to those whom he feltreally needed their power and complexity.Towards the end ofhis life,as he felt facilityleaving his left hand,he laid down his violinand never picked it up again.However,Einstein never lost his love for the instrument.As he once said,“I know that the most joy inmy life has come to me from my violin”.

Brian Fosteris an experimental particle physicist atthe Department of Physics, Oxford University, UK, e-mail b.foster@physics.ox.ac.uk. He thanks AnitaEhlers for her helpful comments

Listen and learn

Einstein Year will encompass manycelebrations of his science, personality,interest in peace and engagement with thestate of Israel. Few of these events wouldhave been closer to his heart than the worldtour of concerts to celebrate World Year ofPhysics being undertaken by one of the mostbrilliant of young UK violinists, Jack Liebeck.This series will open with a gala concert inLondon organized by the Institute of Physicson 14 March – Einstein’s birthday.

Liebeck and I will also be touring with alecture that mixes physics with speciallycommissioned music from two outstandingyoung UK composers, Emily Hall and AnnaMeredith. Funded by the UK research

councils, the performances will mostly be inschools and concert halls in the UK, butalso in venues stretching from the US toKorea. The lecture will look at how ourunderstanding of the universe has

developed through modern ideas of particlephysics and cosmology up to the concept of superstrings.

Liebeck uses his great Guadagnini violin,the “ex-Wilhelmj”, made in 1785 to

demonstrate some of the concepts in thelecture by analogy. For example, the

sequence of harmonics on one violin stringrepresents the mass spectrum of somefamilies of particles in superstring space. Ihope that this lecture will not only introducethose interested in physics to music playedby a superb violinist, but also that lovers ofmusic will gain an appreciation of theexcitement of physics.Gwww.jackliebeck.comGwww.annameredith.com

physicsweb.org

1

百度搜索“77cn”或“免费范文网”即可找到本站免费阅读全部范文。收藏本站方便下次阅读，免费范文网，提供经典小说综合文库einstein&music在线全文阅读。