Ernst Levy? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent musicologist once said that humankind should take art as seriously as physics, chemistry, and money. If this happens then humankind will begin the road to recovery. I do not recall the precise phrasing. Would you please help me to locate this quotation and the name of its creator?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Swiss musicologist and composer Ernst Levy wrote a letter to a friend in 1945 that was reprinted in the collection “Letters of Composers: An Anthology 1603-1945”. The letter contained a match for the quotation under examination. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
To a humanity looking for elements of hope, music ought to be an important matter. We may even say that man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry, or money. There is no other human activity that asks for such a harmonious cooperation of “intellect” and “soul” as artistic creation and, especially, music …
Our mechanized minds need to be musicalized. We have developed only half of man’s possibilities, or rather, have developed that half completely out of proportion to the other half.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1963 an excerpt of the letter containing the quotation was reprinted in “In Praise of Music: An Anthology” edited by Richard Lewis.2 Thus, the statement achieved further circulation.
In 1990 “The Music Lover’s Quotation Book: A Lyrical Companion” edited by Kathleen Kimball et al printed the following entry:3
Man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry or money. ERNST LEVY
In conclusion, Ernst Levy deserves credit for this quotation. He penned it in a letter to Barnett Byman in 1945. The missive appeared in a 1946 collection titled “Letters of Composers: An Anthology”.
Image Notes: Painting of “A Young Woman Composing Music” by Gabriël Metsu circa 1662-1663. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Soren Engstrom whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1946, Letters of Composers: An Anthology 1603-1945, Compiled and edited by Gertrude Norman and Miriam Lubell Shrifte, Letter From: Ernst Lévy, Letter To: Barnett Byman, Letter Date: February 18, 1945, Start Page 373, Quote Page 374, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1963 Copyright, In Praise of Music: An Anthology, Edited by Richard Lewis, Chapter 3: The Composer Speaks, Excerpt of Letter From Ernst Lévy to Barnett Byman, Quote Page 73, The Orion Press, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1990, The Music Lover’s Quotation Book: A Lyrical Companion, Compiled and edited by Kathleen Kimball, Robin Petersen, and Kathleen Johnson, Topic: Music and Politics, Quote Page 16, Sound and Vision, Toronto, Canada. (Verified with scans) ↩︎