Background
Hermann Levi was born on the 7th of November, 1839 in Giessen, Germany.
Hermann Levi was born on the 7th of November, 1839 in Giessen, Germany.
Hermann Levi studied music with Vincenz Lachner at Mannheim from the age of thirteen, then continued his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory until 1858.
Hermann Levi held various conducting posts, including Saarbrücken, the German Opera in Rotterdam, and Karlsruhe. His most important appointment was as Hofkapellmeister (general music director) at the Court Theater of Munich.
Hermann Levi counted Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms among his friends, and produced Robert Schumann’s Genoveva. His correspondence with Brahms was published in Berlin in 1912. His reflections on Goethe’s works (Gedenken aus Goethes Werken), published posthumously, ran into several editions.
In 1869, Levi won Richard Wagner’s recognition with performances of Rienzi and Die Meistersinger. Cosima, Wagner’s second wife (and daughter of Liszt), regarded Levi as “a most excellent person with real delicacy of feeling,” while for Wagner himself, he was “the ideal Parsifal conductor." There were, however, some almost insurmountable obstacles to be overcome. Wagner had tried in vain to persuade Levi to embrace Christianity. That a Jew should conduct Parsifal, which depicts the central Christian mystery, was inconceivable. An anonymous letter charging this, and also denouncing Levi as Cosima’s lover, impelled him to resign. King Ludwig II of Bavaria intervened in the impasse, paving the way for a reconciliation between the two men. Levi conducted the premiere of Parsifal at Bayreuth on July 26, 1882 to Wagner's complete satisfaction.
In her capacity as art director of the festival plays, Cosima replaced Levi with Motll in 1888, but he was reinstated the following year and presided over performances of Parsifal until 1884. He retired in 1896.
Levi was unofficial musical adviser to the synagogue in Munich. He composed works of Jewish interest; among them a setting of the Sabbath Ve-Shomru prayer and a composition for the dedication of the Mannheim synagogue.
There was a spirituality in Levi’s interpretations that inspired admiration. His conducting style, which combined a masterly technique with economy of gesture, was to influence the coming generation of conductors, particularly Felix Weingartner.
Hermann Levi, who directed it in 1872–90, was a highly regarded conductor of the music of Wagner, Johannes Brahms, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
