In 2021, MIT was honored to receive a bequest from the estate of Stephen Erdely (1921–2017), a distinguished musician, scholar, and member of the MIT music faculty. The gift includes a significant contribution to the new MIT Music Building, Erdely’s scholarly papers, a violin, and four rare violin bows. 

“Professor Erdely’s estate gifts reflect his breadth of inquiry, generosity of spirit, and support for our future,” says Marcus Thompson, Institute Professor of Music in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

A life of accomplishments, and renewal.

Born in 1921 in Hungary, Erdely attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Leó Weiner, and Ede Zathureczky. After surviving World War II and the horrors of the Dachau concentration camp, Erdely performed with the Munich Chamber Music Society before immigrating to the United States, where he spent many years as a violinist with the Cleveland Orchestra under conductor George Szell. Inspired by Hungarian folk music and its influence on composers like Bartók, Erdely completed a PhD, becoming one of the first leading scholars in ethnomusicology. In 1973, he joined the MIT faculty. 

“Professor Erdely was the first ethnomusicologist on our teaching staff who expanded our musical offerings beyond the Western canon, and the first professionally trained violinist on our faculty,” says Thompson. 

“Professor Erdely’s estate gifts reflect his breadth of inquiry, generosity of spirit, and support for our future.”

 

Erdely’s companion in music and life was his wife, acclaimed pianist Beatrice (Epstein) Erdely (1922–2012). The Erdelys performed together for over 50 years and shared passions for music, art, and culture. Sheryl Cohen, a close friend and cotrustee of the Stephen Erdely Trust, describes them as “Renaissance people” whose mentorship shaped many lives. “I met them in 1967 when I began my first job as principal flutist in the Toledo Symphony, and they took me under their wing,” she says. Her cotrustee, Joshua Klein, a Bay Area attorney, met the Erdelys as a student and mentee and became a lifelong friend.

“Steve was very proud of the role that music and the humanities played at MIT,” says Klein. “His students came to MIT for the extraordinary science and engineering education, but the arts and humanities were important parts of their education, too, and he relished that.”

As trustees, Klein and Cohen were charged with selecting charitable beneficiaries for the estate. Cohen explains that the Music Building was the perfect way “to honor his legacy and benefit the institution he loved.”

The bequest has a number of components: a naming contribution to faculty offices, one in the Music & Culture Pavilion and a suite of three in the Music Maker Pavilion; Erdely’s scholarly papers, which will be available to future scholars in ethnomusicology; a violin; and four violin bows, each several hundred years old, from storied instrument makers.

“Bows like these are not the resource of one person,” says Klein, “but gifts to be shared. We are so happy that MIT can care for them and make them available to students, faculty, and other performers.”

A growing legacy.

Erdely’s influence is still evident in the Institute’s music education, says Thompson. Many student-musicians now come to the Institute to take advantage of the rigorous, conservatory-level training on offer alongside MIT’s wealth of other learning and experiential opportunities—a testament to Erdely’s commitment to the music program.

“Erdely’s presence, vision, and legacy are reflected in our expanding private teaching program; ear-training laboratory; faculty appointments and research in the music of India, Bali, and Senegal; and in the recent appointment of an assistant professor of violin, Natalie Lin Douglas, who is also a distinguished performer of new and under-recognized music,” says Thompson.

For Klein and Cohen, completing this bequest is an honor. “It’s tremendously satisfying,” says Klein, “to know that our friend is contributing to a cause he was so deeply attached to: the musical education of students at MIT.”