Presentation of the insignia of Grand Officer de la Légion d’Honneur to maestro Kurt Masur

Presentation of the insignia of Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur to maestro Kurt Masur

18 July 2007

Madame et chère Tomoko,

Dear Maître,

Dear Wolfgang,

Dear Nicholas Kennion,

Lady Rothermere,

Cher Jean-Paul Cluzel,

Dear friends,

Je voudrais d’abord dire quelques mots aux artistes français de l’Orchestre National de France :

Je voudrais vous dire merci pour le plaisir immense que vous nous avez donné ce soir.

Vous dire ma fierté de vous avoir à Londres, en entente cordiale avec le Philharmonic.

Je sais ce que représente pour vous la distinction que nous allons remettre à Maître Kurt Masur. En lui rendant hommage, c’est à vous aussi que la France rend hommage.

Je sais aussi votre attachement à votre directeur musical qui, en moins de dix ans, a su à la fois répondre à vos attentes et contribuer à votre excellence artistique, encore démontrée ce soir, et élargir votre répertoire.

Virginie and I are delighted to have you here tonight for this very important, very special, very moving occasion :

Firstly because it is your birthday, Kurt Masur. So a very, very happy birthday.

Secondly because you have just conducted, to our immense pleasure, at the BBC Prom, musicians from two of the orchestras that you head : the London Philhamornic and the Orchestre National de France

And thirdly of course because tonight France is paying tribute to you.

There are many reasons to pay tribute to you : but there are three main reasons :

- Because you are an incomparable artist ;

- Because you have made a major contribution to France’s musical heritage ;

- Because of the exceptional role you played in the fight for freedom.

I - You are an incomparable artist. That alone would be reason enough for France to honour you.

You are one of the greatest conductors of our times.

You became one of Europe and the world’s leading conductors. You were living in the former German Democratic Republic and, at the beginning of the nineteen sixties, you were invited to conduct the Bremen Orchestra, something the East German regime viewed with suspicion. The authorities forbade you to accept, and intensified its harassment of you. But this didn’t prevent your reputation to grow. And when, in 1967, you were invited to Venice, you were already so well known abroad that the regime no longer dared to interfere.

Most importantly, in 1970, you became the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, one of the most prestigious posts in the world of music. Indeed, you followed Mendelssohn, Arthur Nikisch, Furtwängler and Bruno Water. You stayed there until 1996 and, when you left, the Gewandhaus named you its first-ever Conductor Laureate.

From 1990 on, you shared your talent with the world’s greatest orchestras : Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1991 to 2002, Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2000 to 2007 and, since 2002, Musical Director of the Orchestre National de France.

Your ever-inquiring mind – the mark of a true great artist – kept you abreast of everything going on around you: you conducted the New York Philharmonic in China; and you regularly included contemporary works in your concerts. You even programmed jazz at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées to introduce the general public to tomorrow’s classics, stimulate young talents and broaden their horizons.

You have made a huge contribution to France’s musical heritage.

Throughout your career, you have conducted great works of French composers. You have a special admiration for César Franck.

But you have done more than that. You have also brought French contemporary music to audiences. We all know your admiration for Henri Dutilheux.

Since you took the reins of France’s national orchestra, you have demonstrated not only your immense talent but also your understanding and friendship for our country.

You have forged a relationship of enthusiasm and respect with the musicians. The orchestra owes much to you.

Finally, Kurt Masur, you have been a fantastic architect of freedom.

Leipzig, the city where you used to give concerts, was one of the centres of the GDR’s peaceful protests. It was one of the cities where the transition towards democracy and freedom was decided, in 1989. You played an exceptional part in those historic events.

First of all by fighting for freedom. In 1989, while perestroika was under way in the Soviet Union, political transition was beginning in Poland, the east german regime remained inflexible.

Evidence of this inflexibility was the banning of a street music festival in June 1989, and the arrest of groups which had decided to play, regardless. You were shocked by this violence. You intervened to get the release of the arrested musicians.

In the ensuing weeks of demonstrations, you constantly encouraged dialogue, the voicing of the grievances and ideas for reforms. You opened the doors of the Gewandhaus to those engaging in it. It was the rebirth of democracy in East Germany.

Thanks to many actions such as yours, your appeals to reason, your support for demonstrators to whom you gave courage and confidence, the Honecher regime collapsed and the democratic transition succeeded without violence.

That peaceful transition was a huge event in our contemporary world. It couldn’t have happened without exceptional men, like you.

You made a major contribution to the reunification of Germany, the re-uniting of all our peoples in a European family who had been brutally and arbitrarily divided and mutilated for decades. This reminds me what André Malraux said : "I don’t know what liberty is. But I know what liberation is."

The tribute we are paying you, Kurt Masur, is also a way of celebrating the strength of the quest for freedom and human rights, the importance of the values which unite Europeans ; it is a way of celebrating the European Union’s role in silencing conflicts in Europe; of celebrating the necessity of the cooperation between our countries, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in particular.

Today is a day to underline one fact: for decades during the last hundred years, it was impossible, or at least very difficult to change things. Because of the wars, because of the cold war, things were frozen. For the last twenty years, it has been possible to change the course of history, for the good of people and the cause of freedom. But to achieve that, requires the vision, the courage, the wisdom of men like you Kurt Masur. Paying tribute to you is our way, to say thank you to you./.