He struggled with health problems and surgeries for years, and missed two full seasons after a serious spinal injury in 2011. But James Levine, whose name became virtually synonymous with the Metropolitan Opera since becoming its music director four decades ago, always seemed to battle back, even conducting from a motorized wheelchair in recent years.

But his health battles have made it difficult to focus on a daunting range of responsibilities over the company’s artistic direction. And this season his body rebelled again, as complications related to his Parkinson’s disease sometimes caused his left arm to flail and made it increasingly difficult for performers to follow his conducting. So on Thursday, after a vigorous internal debate in recent months over his future, the Met announced that Mr. Levine, 72, would step down after this season to become music director emeritus, a position in which he would still conduct.

Mr. Levine summoned the orchestra and chorus to an unusual meeting Thursday afternoon in List Hall, a small auditorium at the opera house, to deliver the news. There he spoke frankly about his health and his love of the company, according to several people who attended, and at one point quoted a letter about artistic integrity by Samuel Beckett. Some listeners grew teary, and at the end Mr. Levine’s colleagues gave him what so many audiences had over the years: a standing ovation.