Leo Levi (1912–1982) was an Italian

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

. He was the first to study the oral musical traditions of Italian Jewry. Grandson of a rabbi, Levi’s attempt to submit a PhD thesis at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

on the music in Italian synagogues was thwarted by the rise to power of

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...

and the spread of anti-Semitism in Italy. He was arrested on two occasions during his university studies for subversive activities. A fervent Zionist, he emigrated to Palestine in 1936. Leo Levi Jerusalem

He returned to Italy after World War II, dedicating himself to the study of Italian-Jewish music. He collaborated with the

Centro Nazionale Studi di Musica Popolare The Centro Nazionale di Studi di Musica Popolare (CNSMP; Italian: "National Centre for Folk Music Studies") is a scholarly center for music studies in Italy. It is housed on the premises of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. The CNSM ...

at the

National Academy of Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

in Rome and with other Italian

ethnomusicologists Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

working in the field, such as

Giorgio Nataletti Giorgio Nataletti (1907-1972) was an Italian musicologist, the first director of the Ethnomusicological Archives at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He was in charge of a vast project from 1948–72 to record traditional Italia ...

. He was an active part of the project of field recordings done by the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(the Italian Radio and Television service) to collect and preserve traditional Italian music, the results of which are preserved in the Santa Cecilia archives. Levi was a research fellow at the Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew university in Israel. Some of his research is available on a 2001 publication (CD and booklet) edited by Francesco Spagnolo, entitled
Jewish Musical Traditions from the Leo Levi Collection (1954-1961)
', recording number AMTI CD 0102 of the Jewish Music Research Centre of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome. He is also the father of Natan Levi and Rabbi Joseph Levi. He died in Jerusalem in 1982.

References

Italian ethnomusicologists 20th-century Italian Jews Jewish musicologists 1912 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Italian musicologists Italian emigrants to Israel {{ethnomusicologist-stub