HERMANN

See also:

• HERMANN LEVI (1839-1900)
• LEVI, LEONE (1821-1888)

LEVI (1839-1900)  , German orchestral conductor, was born at Giessen on the 7th of November 1839, and was the son of a Jewish rabbi . He was educated at Giessen and Mannheim, and came under Vincenz Lachner's notice . From 1855 to 1858 Levi studied at the Leipzig conservatorium, and after a series of travels which took him to Paris, he obtained his first post as music director at Saarbrucken, which post he exchanged for that at Mannheim in 1861 . From 1862 to 1864 he was chief conductor of the German opera in Rotterdam, then till 1872 at Carlsruhe, when he went to Munich, a post he held until 1896, when ill-health compelled him to resign . Levi's name is indissolubly connected with the increased public appreciation of Wagner's music . He conducted the first performance of Parsifal at Bayreuth in 1882, and was connected with the musical life of that place during the remainder of his career . He visited London in 1895 .