After 13 seasons, Riccardo Muti is leaving his role as music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. However, the 81-year-old Italian maestro was given the new title of music Director Emeritus for life during weekend performances of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" at Orchestra Hall. "Music can help the soul," Muti told the crowd of about 8,500 after Tuesday's concert at the Pritzker Pavilion. "But governments are deaf. That's the only thing they have in common with Beethoven: they are deaf," he added with his trademark irony. Muti ended his term Tuesday night the way he began it, with a free public concert at Millennium Park. His 540th performance with the orchestra and 508th as music director was not a final farewell. While the search for a successor continues, Muti has agreed to conduct the orchestra for six weeks in each of the next two seasons.