Farewell to Robert Levin

Dear Robert,

That I have been given the honour of expressing a few words of thanks today, on this solemn and contemplative occasion of your farewell as President of the Leipzig Bach Competition, fills me with deep gratitude. Who would not feel honoured to be allowed to deliver a tribute to one of the few still active, greatest polymaths among musicians? Ladies and gentlemen, this is no exaggeration. To my knowledge there is scarcely any other so complete a scholar, one who not only holds the entire musical cosmos in his head and heart, but also actively embodies it as a pianist, organist, harpsichordist, clavichordist, conductor, researcher and teacher, as Robert Levin.

Where to begin with a life so rich and wholly given up to the service of art? With the innumerable recordings scattered along a career path strewn with refined treasures, with the almost countless concerts given on virtually every keyboard instrument imaginable, with the master classes held in every existing centre of music, the musical writings and urtext editions, the lectures and interviews? It would take hours or even days to pay something even approaching a worthy tribute. And so I prefer to stick to the assigned task, namely of honouring your presidency, since 2002, of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.

The fact that around the turn of the millennium the competition organisers succeeded in winning over none other than Robert Levin to assume the presidency was a decision that did honour not only to Leipzig, but to the entire international Bach scene. In 2002, the Bach Competition took place for the first time under the overall direction of Robert Levin. It was a milestone which for the next 22 years did not remain immutable, but marked just the beginning of a series of innovations which, for a musician like him who never loses sight of the overall picture, were simply logical: in 2002, the Violin category was coupled with the Baroque violin for the first time; two years later the same addition was made in the Cello category, with the Baroque cello. Then in 2004, a completely new set of rules for the evaluations were submitted to the competition jurors, which ever since then have continually been refined and perfected. What is summed up here in one sentence was the result of intense, lengthy reflection, because the complaints of many participants in international competitions about the insufficient transparency and lack of comprehensibility of jury judgements could not leave any musician indifferent who takes their educational mission seriously, especially as here, the judgement is in Bach’s name. The outcome was, as far as I know, one of the most extensive and detailed set of rules ever: the customary points system was abolished and the decision as to whether a candidate continued to the next round taken on the basis of a strictly limited number of positive evaluations in the form of a simple »yes«, plus an additional evaluation (as a complementary aid to deciding between candidates of equal level) – called »Bach points«, this evaluation takes into account crucial background knowledge, artistic charisma, interpretational maturity and, of course, sure mastery of the Bach works. Also in 2004, pre-selection, in which the future competitors have an initial opportunity to present themselves, was introduced. Even at this early, clarifying stage in the proceedings, the greatest importance has always been placed on marking the fact that the Leipzig Bach Competition is no El Dorado for prize-hungry musicians. Robert Levin never tires of emphasising that technical mastery and natural virtuosity form no more than the bases for the actual destination of the long journey to Bach. The introduction of jury talks with the eliminated participants also dates back to 2004. Since then, these talks, which are an obligatory part of every juror’s role, have done much to reassure and enlighten precisely those entrants who, after a tremendous effort, have learned that their participation in the competition has ended earlier than they hoped.

For me, one thing is perfectly clear: anyone who was familiar with the Bach Competition before the turn of the millennium will greatly appreciate what has been achieved in terms of modernising and aligning the competition with the times and cannot fail to be sincerely grateful to the spiritus rector behind this necessary, pioneering work. Robert Levin’s declared goal, in collaboration with the Bach Archive and other musical institutions here in Leipzig, has always been to strengthen »his« competition as an important means of cultivating Bach’s legacy and Bach research and in doing so, to make Leipzig a hub of international Bach research. Cogent proof of how this ambitious goal has been achieved over the years can be seen in the increased number of international competitors and the standard of interpretation. For this, Prof. Dr. Robert Levin who has remained president until today once again deserves our warm and sincere applause!

It goes without saying that coupled with this applause are every wish both for the future of the competition and for the man who gave it a new face. This solemn occasion has brought back some wonderful, defining memories that I permit myself to share... Dear Robert, for me, your preparatory master classes for the competition as well as the master classes you organised on a number of occasions for the students of HMT Leipzig are unforgettable. Once, there was a discussion about Mozart’s art of improvisation and his advice to his beloved Nannerl: his sister had asked for help about the best way from A to B. You played Mozart’s notated version in full from memory, which amazed all those present. (I hardly need add that when you perform Mozart concertos, you freely improvise a different cadenza every evening, just like the master himself used to do.) Another time, we were eating together after the day’s class and I mentioned the arrangement of accents in an urtext edition of Schubert sonatas that did not always seem logical – of course, you were immediately able to point out the inconsistencies in the third movement of the Gasteiner Sonata in the aforementioned edition and name comparative examples from other urtext editions that were closer to the autograph as well as to the first edition. In a cycle by Poulenc, the cross-links to other composers of the period that you pointed out in a frequently humoristic way were eye-opening, as was the musical greeting you pointed out by Mozart to his predecessor Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, without whose influence Mozart’s style would not have had such an easy start. Whether in the master class or in discussions about the world of music when the day’s work was done, in the space of a minute you got to the heart of the matter without losing sight of the big picture. For this, dear Robert, and for much more, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

All that remains for me to do now is to reiterate my wishes for continuing happiness and enlightening activity, together with a hope for continuing good health, which of course is not everything, but without which everything else fades into insignificance. Ladies and gentlemen, to all of you present, I ask you once again to give a sustained round of applause for one of the great musicians and scholars of our time, Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. mult. Robert Levin!

Gerald Fauth
27th July 2024

Photo: Bach-Archiv / Gert Mothes