Májusi magazin: kultúra, művészet és Mona Lisa

What does “zene nélkül lehet élni, de nem érdemes” mean?

This line, attributed to the composer Kodály Zoltán, is quoted in Hungarian schools and concert programmes the way a proverb is. It also teaches a piece of grammar in miniature: nélkül means “without,” but unlike its English equivalent it follows its noun — zene nélkül, “music without.” Every Hungarian postposition works this way, trailing the word it governs.

More of the family: pénz nélkül (without money), nélküled (without you), nélkülözhetetlen (indispensable). Kodály was born in Kecskemét — the speaker’s own city, which is why she brings him up — and his music-education method is now taught worldwide, so the sentence gets treated as a national motto rather than one man’s opinion. She extends it: art and culture, not only music, are what make living worth the trouble.