Arturo Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | January 16, 1957 Riverdale, Bronx, New York | (aged 89)
Occupation | Conductor |
Spouse |
Carla de Martini
(m. 1897; died 1951) |
Children | 3; including Wanda Toscanini |
Arturo Toscanini (/ɑːrˈtʊəroʊ ˌtɒskəˈniːni/; Italian: [arˈtuːro toskaˈniːni]; March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his eidetic memory.[1] He was at various times the music director of La Scala in Milan and the New York Philharmonic. Later in his career, he was appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–1954), and this led to his becoming a household name, especially in the United States, through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire.
Biography
Early years
Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, His father was a tailor. He won a scholarship to the Parma Conservatory, where he studied the cello. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh and strict. For example, the menu at the conservatory consisted almost entirely of fish; in his later years, Toscanini steadfastly refused to eat anything that came from the sea.[citation needed]
He joined the orchestra of an opera company organized by Claudio Rossi, with which he toured Brazil in 1886. After performing in Sao Paulo, the locally hired conductor, Leopoldo Miguez relinquished the post a few hours before the performance of Aida in Rio de Janeiro on June 25, telling the newspapers that his decision had been caused by the behavior of the orchestra. His substitute, Carlo Superti, was heavily contested by the public, failing even to give the attack to the orchestra. In desperation, the singers suggested the name of their assistant chorusmaster, who knew the whole opera from memory. Although he had no conducting experience, Toscanini was eventually persuaded by the musicians to take up the baton at 9:15 pm, and led a performance of the two-and-a-half hour opera, completely from memory. [2]
The public was taken by surprise, at first by the youth, charisma and sheer intensity of this unknown conductor, then by his solid musicianship. The result was astounding acclaim. For the rest of that season, Toscanini conducted 18 operas, each one an absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at age 19.[3]
Upon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path. He continued to conduct, his first appearance in Italy being at the
National and international fame
Gradually, Toscanini's reputation as an operatic conductor of unusual authority and skill supplanted his cello career. In the following decade, he consolidated his career in Italy, entrusted with the world premieres of Puccini's La bohème and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. In 1896, Toscanini conducted his first symphonic concert (in Turin, with works by Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner). He exhibited a considerable capacity for hard work, conducting 43 concerts in Turin in 1898.[8] By 1898, Toscanini was Principal Conductor at La Scala, where he remained until 1908, returning as Music Director, from 1921 to 1929. In December 1920, he brought the La Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour during which time he made his first recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey.[9]
In 1908, Toscanini joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York, along with Giulio Gatti-Casazza who left La Scala to assume the post as the Met's general manager. During Toscanini's seven seasons at the Met (1908–1915), he made several reforms and set many standards in opera production and performance which are still in practice today. At the end of his final season with the Metropolitan Opera in May 1915, Toscanini was set to return to Europe aboard the doomed RMS Lusitania, but instead cut his concert schedule short and left a week early, aboard the Italian liner Duca degli Abruzzi.[10] Toscanini conducted the New York Philharmonic from 1926 until 1936; he toured Europe with the Philharmonic in 1930. At each performance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by both critics and audiences. Toscanini was the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth (1930–1931), and the New York Philharmonic was the first non-German orchestra to play there.[11]
In the 1930s, he conducted at the Salzburg Festival (1934–1937), as well as the 1936 inaugural concert of the Palestine Orchestra (later renamed the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) in Tel Aviv, later conducting them in Jerusalem, Haifa, Cairo and Alexandria. During his engagement with the New York Philharmonic, his concert master was Hans Lange, the son of the last Master of the Sultan's Music in Istanbul, who, later, became conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the founder of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra as a professional ensemble.[12]
During his career as an opera conductor, Toscanini collaborated with such artists as Enrico Caruso, Feodor Chaliapin, Ezio Pinza, Giovanni Martinelli, Geraldine Farrar and Aureliano Pertile.
Departure from Italy to the United States
In 1919, Toscanini unsuccessfully ran on the Socialist ticket for a minor municipal office in Milan.[13] He had been called "the greatest conductor in the world" by Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Toscanini had already become disillusioned with fascism before the October 1922 March on Rome and repeatedly defied the Italian dictator. He refused to display Mussolini's photograph or conduct the Fascist anthem Giovinezza at La Scala.[14] He raged to a friend, "If I were capable of killing a man, I would kill Mussolini."[15]
At a memorial concert for Italian composer
NBC Symphony Orchestra
In 1936, Toscanini resigned from the New York Philharmonic, returned to Italy and was considering retirement;
The NBC broadcasts were initially preserved on large 16-inch transcription discs recorded at 33-1/3 rpm, until NBC began using magnetic tape in 1949. NBC employed special RCA high fidelity microphones for the broadcasts, and they can be seen in some photographs of Toscanini and the orchestra. Some of Toscanini's recording sessions for
Toscanini was sometimes criticized for neglecting American music, but on November 5, 1938, he conducted the world premieres of two orchestral works by
In 1940, Toscanini took the NBC Symphony on a tour of South America, sailing from New York on the ocean liner SS Brazil on May 14.[24] Later that year, Toscanini had a disagreement with NBC management over their use of his musicians in other NBC broadcasts. This, among other reasons, resulted in a letter of resignation which Toscanini wrote on March 10, 1941, to RCA's president David Sarnoff. He stated that he now wished "to withdraw from the militant scene of Art" and thus declined to sign a new contract for the up-coming winter season, but left the door open for an eventual return "if my state of mind, health and rest will be improved enough". Leopold Stokowski was engaged on a three-year contract to conduct the orchestra and served as the NBC Symphony's music director from 1941 until 1944. Toscanini's state of mind soon underwent a change and he returned as Stokowski's co-conductor for the latter's second and third seasons, resuming full control in 1944.[25]
One of the more remarkable broadcasts[
In the spring of 1950, Toscanini led the NBC Symphony on the orchestra's only extensive tour of the United States. It was during this tour that the well-known photograph of Toscanini riding the ski lift at Sun Valley, Idaho, was taken. Toscanini and the musicians traveled on a special train chartered by NBC.[citation needed]
The NBC Symphony concerts continued in Studio 8-H until 1950. That summer, 8-H was remodeled for television broadcasting, and the concerts were moved briefly to Manhattan Center, then soon thereafter moved again to Carnegie Hall at Toscanini's insistence, where many of the orchestra's recording sessions had been held due to the acrid acoustics of Studio 8-H. On April 4, 1954, Toscanini conducted his final broadcast performance, an all-Wagner program, in Carnegie Hall. During this final concert, the aging Toscanini suffered a minor lapse of concentration which became a
In June 1954, Toscanini participated in his final RCA Victor sessions, recording re-takes of isolated unsatisfactory passages from his NBC radio broadcasts of the Verdi operas Aida and Un Ballo in Maschera, for release on records. Toscanini was 87 years old when he finally stepped down. After his retirement, NBC disbanded the Symphony in 1954.
Toscanini prepared and conducted seven complete operas for NBC radio broadcasts:
Last years
With the help of his son Walter, Toscanini spent his remaining years evaluating and editing tapes and transcriptions of his broadcast performances with the NBC Symphony for possible future release on records. Many of these recordings were eventually issued by RCA Victor.[citation needed]
Sachs and other biographers have documented the numerous conductors, singers, and musicians who visited Toscanini during his retirement. He reportedly enjoyed watching boxing and wrestling matches, as well as comedy programs on television.[citation needed]
Toscanini suffered a stroke on New Year's Day 1957, and he died on January 16, at the age of 89 at his home in the
In his will, he left his baton to his protégée Herva Nelli, who sang in the broadcasts of Otello, Aida, Falstaff, the Verdi Requiem, and Un ballo in maschera.[citation needed]
Toscanini was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.[citation needed]
Personal life
Toscanini married Carla De Martini on June 21, 1897, when she was not yet 20 years old. Their first child,
Toscanini worked with many great singers and musicians throughout his career, but few impressed him as much as pianist Vladimir Horowitz. They worked together a number of times and recorded Brahms' second piano concerto and Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto with the NBC Symphony for RCA Victor. Horowitz also became close to Toscanini and his family. In 1933, Wanda Toscanini married Horowitz, with the conductor's blessings and warnings; they remained married until Vladimir Horowitz' death in 1989. Wanda's daughter Sonia was photographed by Life playing with the conductor.[35]
During World War II, Toscanini lived in
Despite the reported infidelities revealed in Toscanini's letters documented by Harvey Sachs (most famously, with soprano Geraldine Farrar), he remained married to Carla until she died on June 23, 1951, and Toscanini remained widowed.[37][38]
Innovations
At La Scala, which had what was then the most modern stage lighting system installed in 1901 and an orchestral pit installed in 1907, Toscanini pushed through reforms in the performance of opera. He insisted on dimming the house-lights during performances. As his biographer Harvey Sachs wrote: "He believed that a performance could not be artistically successful unless unity of intention was first established among all the components: singers, orchestra, chorus, staging, sets, and costumes."[citation needed]
Toscanini favored the traditional orchestral seating plan with the first violins and cellos on the left, the violas on the near right, and the second violins on the far right.[39]
Premieres
Toscanini conducted the world premieres of many operas, four of which have become part of the standard operatic repertoire: Pagliacci, La bohème, La fanciulla del West and Turandot. He also took an active role in Alfano's completion of Puccini's Turandot.[40] He conducted the first Italian performances of Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Salome, Pelléas et Mélisande, and Euryanthe, as well as the South American premieres of Tristan und Isolde and Madama Butterfly and the North American premieres of Boris Godunov and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7. He also conducted the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.[41]
Operatic premieres
- Edmea (revised version) by Alfredo Catalani – Turin, November 4, 1886
- Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo – Milan, May 21, 1892
- Guglielmo Swarten by Gnaga – Rome, November 15, 1892
- Savitri by Natale Canti – Bologna, December 1, 1894
- Emma Liona by Antonio Lozzi – Venice, May 24, 1895
- La bohème by Giacomo Puccini – Turin, February 1, 1896
- Forza d'Amore by Arturo Buzzi-Peccia – Turin, March 6, 1897
- La Camargo by Enrico De Leva – Turin, March 2, 1898
- Anton by Cesare Galeotii – Milan, December 17, 1900
- Zaza by Leoncavallo – Milan, November 10, 1900
- Le Maschere by Pietro Mascagni – Milan, January 17, 1901
- Mosè by Don Lorenzo Perosi – Milan, November 16, 1901
- Germania by Alberto Franchetti – Milan, March 11, 1902
- Oceana by Antonio Smareglia – Milan, January 22, 1903
- Cassandra by Vittorio Gnecchi – Bologna, December 5, 1905
- Gloria by Francesco Cilea – Milan, April 15, 1907
- La fanciulla del West by Puccini – New York, December 10, 1910
- Madame Sans-Gène by Umberto Giordano – New York, January 25, 1915
- Debora e Jaele by Ildebrando Pizzetti – Milan, December 16, 1922
- Nerone by Arrigo Boito (completed by Toscanini and Vincenzo Tommasini) – Milan, May 1, 1924
- La Cena delle Beffe by Giordano – Milan, December 20, 1924
- I Cavalieri di Ekebu by Riccardo Zandonai – Milan, March 7, 1925
- Turandot by Puccini – Milan, April 25, 1926 (Note: Toscanini informed the audience that the opera was incomplete due to Puccini's death.)
- Fra Gherado by Pizzetti – Milan, May 16, 1928
- Il re by Giordano – Milan, January 12, 1929
Orchestral premieres
- Adagio for Strings and First Essay for Orchestra by Samuel Barber – NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York, November 5, 1938
- Western Suite by Elie Siegmeister – NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York, November 1945.
Recorded legacy
Overview
Toscanini made his first recordings in December 1920 with the La Scala Orchestra in the Trinity Church studio of the
Specialties
Toscanini was especially famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Debussy and his own compatriots Rossini, Verdi, Boito and Puccini. He made many recordings, especially towards the end of his career, most of which are still in print. In addition, there are many recordings available of his broadcast performances, as well as his rehearsals with the NBC Symphony.[citation needed]
Charles O'Connell on Toscanini
Charles O'Connell, who produced many of Toscanini's RCA Victor recordings in the 1930s and early 1940s, said that RCA Victor decided to record the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, whenever possible, after numerous customer complaints about the flat and dull-sounding early recordings made in Studio 8-H in 1938 and 1939. (Nevertheless, some recording sessions in Studio 8-H persisted as late as June 1950, probably because of alterations to the studio beginning in 1939, including installation of an acoustical shell in 1941 at Leopold Stokowski's insistence, before he would temporarily replace Toscanini as principal conductor in the fall.) O'Connell and others often complained the Maestro was little interested in the details of recorded sound and, as Harvey Sachs wrote, Toscanini was frequently disappointed that the microphones failed to pick up everything he heard as he led the orchestra. O'Connell even complained of Toscanini's failure to cooperate with him during the sessions. Toscanini himself was often disappointed that the 78-rpm discs failed to fully capture all of the instruments in the orchestra or altered their sound to such an extent they became unrecognizable. Those who attended Toscanini's concerts later said the NBC string section was especially outstanding.[43]
Philadelphia Orchestra recordings
O'Connell also extensively documented RCA's technical problems with the Philadelphia Orchestra recordings of 1941–42, which required extensive electronic editing before they could be issued (well after Toscanini's death, beginning in 1963, with the rest following in 1977). Harvey Sachs also recounts that the masters were damaged during processing, possibly because of the use of somewhat-inferior materials imposed by wartime restrictions. Toscanini had listened to several of the test pressings and had given his approval to some of the recordings, rejected others and was prepared to re-record the unsatisfactory sides. Unfortunately, the 1942-44
High fidelity and stereo
When magnetic tape replaced direct wax disc recording and high fidelity long-playing records were both introduced in the late 1940s, Toscanini said he was much happier making recordings. Sachs wrote that an Italian journalist, Raffaele Calzini, said Toscanini told him, "My son Walter sent me the test pressing of the [Beethoven] Ninth from America; I want to hear and check how it came out, and possibly to correct it. These long-playing records often make me happy."[44]
NBC recorded all of Toscanini's broadcast performances on 16-inch 33+1⁄3 rpm transcription discs from the start of the Maestro's broadcasts in December 1937, but the infrequent use of higher-fidelity sound film for recording sessions began as early as 1933 with the Philharmonic, and by December 1948, improved high fidelity made its appearance when RCA began using magnetic tape on a regular basis. High fidelity quickly became the norm for the company and the industry. NBC Radio followed, adopting the new technology in the fall of 1949 for its NBC Symphony broadcasts, among others. The first Toscanini recording sessions in Carnegie Hall followed immediately thereafter, although individual takes continued as with 78s, each running only about 4+1⁄2 minutes. RCA continued in this vein with 7-inch tape reels until 1953, when long takes on 10-inch reels were finally implemented for the recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. With RCA's experiments in stereo beginning in early 1953 when two-track decks were first delivered by the engineers to the record producers (per Jack Pfeiffer, 11/77 interview, NYC, by CWR), stereo tapes were eventually made of Toscanini's final two broadcast concerts, plus the dress rehearsal for the final broadcast, as documented by Samuel Antek in This Was Toscanini and by Pfeiffer. These followed test sessions in New York's Manhattan Center in December of Delibes with members of the Boston Symphony under Pierre Monteux, in February 1954 with the full Boston Symphony under Charles Munch in Berlioz' Damnation of Faust, and in early March with the NBC Symphony in Manhattan Center again under Stokowski doing the Beethoven Pastoral symphony. For Toscanini, later in March and in early April, the microphones were placed relatively close to the orchestra with limited separation, so the stereo effects were not as dramatic as the commercial "Living Stereo" recordings RCA Victor began to make in March with the Chicago Symphony, just a few weeks earlier. Two days after the final concert, Guido Cantelli took the podium in a hastily organized session to record the Franck Symphony in D minor, for RCA Victor using the same microphone and equipment set-up put in place for the Maestro. The stereo version of the recording was finally released on LP by RCA in 1978 (Warner Music Group now holds the rights and has issued several CD versions). Toscanini's June sessions were recorded monophonically to correct unsatisfactory portions of the broadcast recordings of Aida and Un Ballo in Maschera.[citation needed]
One more example of Toscanini and the NBC Symphony in stereo now also exists in a commercially available edition. This one is of the January 27, 1951, concert devoted to the Verdi Requiem, previously recorded and released in high-fidelity monophonic sound by RCA Victor. Recently a separate NBC tape of the same performance, using a different microphone in a different location, was acquired by Pristine Audio. Using modern digital technology the company constructed a stereophonic version of the performance from the two recordings which it made available in 2009. The company calls this an example of "accidental stereo".[citation needed]
Notable recordings
External audio | |
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1952 performance featuring Arturo Toscanini (conductor) of Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E Minor Opus 98 with the Philharmonia Orchestra on archive.org |
Among his most critically acclaimed recordings, many of which were not officially released during his lifetime, are the following (with the NBC Symphony unless otherwise shown):
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" (1953; also 1939 and 1949 recordings)
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral" (1952)
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 (1936, Philharmonic-Symphony of New York)
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (1952 and 1938) (only the 1952 recording was released officially)
- Beethoven, Missa Solemnis, (1953 and 1940 NBC broadcast) (Only the 1953 version was released officially.)
- Berlioz, Roméo et Juliette (1947 NBC broadcast) (only excerpts released during Toscanini's lifetime)
- Brahms, Symphony No. 1 (1941)
- Brahms, Symphony No. 2 (1952 and February 1948 broadcast)
- Brahms, Symphony No. 3 (February 1948 broadcast) (October 1952 concert, Philharmonia Orchestra)
- Brahms, Symphony No. 4 (1951 and 1948 broadcast)
- Brahms, Four Symphonies, Tragic Overture and Haydn Variations, 1952, Philharmonia Orchestra, London (his only appearances with that orchestra, produced by Walter Legge).
- Debussy, La mer (1950 and 1940 broadcast; only the 1950 version was released officially)
- Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" (1953)
- Mendelssohn, Incidental Music from A Midsummer Night's Dream, (NBC 1947, studio and broadcast versions; Philadelphia 1941); Scherzo, New York Philharmonic, (1929)
- Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 "Italian", (1954, exists in two versions: one as approved by Toscanini with excerpts from the rehearsals, and the unedited broadcast)
- Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 5 "Reformation", (1942 broadcast, 1953 studio recording. The 1953 version is the one officially released.)
- Puccini, La bohème (1946 broadcast)
- Die Zauberflöte (1937, Salzburg Festival; poor sound)
- Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (1938, 1948 and 1953 broadcast, studio recording 1953, all of them in the version orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. The studio recording from January 1953 is the only one to have been officially released.)
- Schubert, Symphony No. 9 (Philadelphia, 1941; NBC 1947 and 1953)
- War Bondsbenefit concert at Carnegie Hall, first issued in 1959 on LP by RCA Victor)
- Verdi, Requiem (1940 NBC broadcast; and 1951 studio recording)
- Verdi, Un ballo in maschera (1954 NBC broadcast)
- Verdi, Falstaff (1937, Salzburg Festival with restored sound on the Treasury of Immortal Performances label (Andante version out of print); 1950 NBC broadcast)
- Verdi, Red Cross benefit concert held in Madison Square Garden, with the combined forces of the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony; the entire concert, complete with an auctioning of one of Toscanini's batons, was released on an unofficial recording in 1995)
- Verdi, Otello (1947 NBC broadcast)
- Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1937, Salzburg Festival; original Selenophone sound-on-film recording restored on Treasury of Immortal Performances label (Andante version out of print).)
Rarities
There are many pieces which Toscanini never recorded in the studio; among these are:
- Meyerbeer Overture to Dinorah (1938, on Testament)[45]
- Stravinsky, Suite from Petrushka (ballet) (1940, on RCA Victor)
- Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3 "Scottish" (1941, on Testament)
- Franz Schubert, Symphony No. 2 (1940, on Testament)
- Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" (1942, on RCA Victor)
- Vasily Kalinnikov, Symphony No. 1 (1943, on Testament)
- Schumann, Symphony No. 2 (1946, on Testament)
- Boito, scenes from Mefistofele and Nerone, La Scala, Milan, 1948 – Boito Memorial Concert.
- Mussorgsky, Prelude to Khovanshchina (1953)
Rehearsals and broadcasts
Many hundreds of hours of Toscanini's rehearsals were recorded. Some of these have circulated in limited edition recordings. Many broadcast recordings with orchestras other than the NBC have also survived, including: The New York Philharmonic from 1933 to 1936, 1942, and 1945; The BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1935 to 1939; The Lucerne Festival Orchestra; and broadcasts from the Salzburg Festival in the late 1930s. Documents of Toscanini's guest appearances with the La Scala Orchestra from 1946 until 1952 include a live recording of Verdi's Requiem with the young Renata Tebaldi. Toscanini's ten NBC Symphony telecasts from 1948 until 1952 were preserved in kinescope films of the live broadcasts. These films, issued by RCA on VHS tape and laser disc and on DVD by Testament, provide unique video documentation of the passionate yet restrained podium technique for which he was well known.[citation needed]
Recording guide
A guide to Toscanini's recording career can be found in Mortimer H. Frank's "From the Pit to the Podium: Toscanini in America" in International Classical Record Collector (1998, 15 8–21) and Christopher Dyment's "Toscanini's European Inheritance" in International Classical Record Collector (1998, 15 22–8). Frank and Dyment also discuss Maestro Toscanini's performance history in the 50th anniversary issue of Classic Record Collector (2006, 47) Frank with 'Toscanini – Myth and Reality' (10–14) and Dyment 'A Whirlwind in London' (15–21) This issue also contains interviews with people who performed with Toscanini – Jon Tolansky 'Licia Albanese – Maestro and Me' (22–6) and 'A Mesmerising Beat: John Tolansky talks to some of those who worked with Arturo Toscanini, to discover some of the secrets of his hold over singers, orchestras and audiences.' (34–7). There is also a feature article on Toscanini's interpretation of Brahms's First Symphony – Norman C. Nelson, 'First Among Equals ... Toscanini's interpretation of Brahms's First Symphony in the context of others' (28–33)
Arturo Toscanini Society
In 1969, Clyde J. Key acted on a dream he had of meeting Toscanini by starting the Arturo Toscanini Society to release a number of "unapproved" live performances by Toscanini. As the magazine Time reported, Key scoured the U.S. and Europe for off-the-air transcriptions of Toscanini broadcasts, acquiring almost 5,000 transcriptions (all transferred to tape) of previously unreleased material—a complete catalogue of broadcasts by the Maestro between 1933 and 1954. It included about 50 concerts that were never broadcast, but which were recorded surreptitiously by engineers supposedly testing their equipment.
A private, nonprofit club based in Dumas, Texas, it offered members five or six LPs annually for a $25-a-year membership fee. Key's first package offering included
Additional releases included a number of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the New York Philharmonic during the 1930s, a performance of
Because the Arturo Toscanini Society was nonprofit, Key said he believed he had successfully bypassed both copyright restrictions and the maze of contractual ties between RCA and the Maestro's family. RCA's attorneys were soon looking into the matter to see if they agreed. As long as it stayed small, the Society appeared to offer little real competition to RCA. But classical-LP profits were low enough even in 1970, and piracy by fly-by-night firms so prevalent within the industry at that time (an estimated $100 million in tape sales for 1969 alone), that even a benevolent buccaneer outfit like the Arturo Toscanini Society had to be looked at twice before it could be tolerated.[46]
Magazine and newspaper reports subsequently detailed legal action taken against Key and the Society, presumably after some of the LPs began to appear in retail stores. Toscanini fans and record collectors were dismayed because, although Toscanini had not approved the release of these performances in every case, many of them were found to be further proof of the greatness of the Maestro's musical talents. One outstanding example of a remarkable performance not approved by the Maestro was his December 1948 NBC broadcast of Dvořák's Symphonic Variations, released on an LP by the Society. (A kinescope of the same performance, from the television simulcast, has been released on VHS and laser disc by RCA/BMG and on DVD by Testament.) There was speculation that the Toscanini family itself, prodded by his daughter Wanda, had sought to defend the Maestro's original decisions (made mostly during his last years) on what should be released. Walter Toscanini later admitted that his father likely rejected performances that were satisfactory. Whatever the real reasons, the Arturo Toscanini Society was forced to disband and cease releasing any further recordings.
Television
Arturo Toscanini was one of the first conductors to make extended appearances on
The telecasts began on March 20, 1948, with an all-
Less than a month after the first Toscanini televised concert, a complete performance by the conductor of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was telecast on April 3, 1948. On November 13, 1948, there was an all-Brahms program, including the Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in A minor (Mischa Mischakoff, violin; Frank Miller, cello); Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52 (with two pianists and a small chorus); and Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor. On December 3, 1948, Toscanini conducted Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor; Dvořák's Symphonic Variations; and Wagner's original overture to Tannhäuser.[citation needed]
There were two Toscanini telecasts in 1949, both devoted to the concert performance of Verdi's Aida from studio 8H. Acts I and II were telecast on March 26 and III and IV on April 2. Portions of the audio were rerecorded in June 1954 for the commercial release on LP records. As the video shows, the soloists were placed close to Toscanini, in front of the orchestra, while the robed members of the Robert Shaw Chorale were on risers behind the orchestra.[citation needed]
There were no Toscanini telecasts in 1950, but they resumed from Carnegie Hall on November 3, 1951, with Weber's overture to Euryanthe and Brahms' Symphony No. 1. On December 29, 1951, there was another all-Wagner program that included the two excerpts from Siegfried and Die Walküre featured on the March 1948 telecast, plus the Prelude to Act II of Lohengrin; the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde; and "Siegfried's Death and Funeral Music" from Götterdämmerung.[citation needed]
On March 15, 1952, Toscanini conducted the Symphonic Interlude from
The NBC cameras were often left on Toscanini for extended periods, documenting not only his baton techniques but his deep involvement in the music. At the end of a piece, Toscanini generally nodded rather than bowed and exited the stage quickly. Although NBC continued to broadcast the orchestra on radio until April 1954, telecasts were abandoned after March 1952.[citation needed]
As part of a restoration project initiated by the Toscanini family in the late 1980s, the kinescopes were fully restored and issued by RCA on VHS and
Film
In December 1943, Toscanini made a 31-minute film for the United States
The film was released by RCA/BMG on DVD in 2004. Long before this time, the "Internationale" had been cut from the 1943 film, but the complete recording of Hymn of the Nations including the "Internationale" can be heard on all RCA LP and CD releases of the cantata.
Toscanini: The Maestro is a 1985 documentary made for cable television. The film features archival footage of the conductor and interviews with musicians who worked with him. This film was released on VHS and in 2004 on the same DVD which included the film, Hymn of the Nations.[citation needed]
Toscanini is the subject of the 1988 fictionalized biography Il giovane Toscanini (Young Toscanini), starring C. Thomas Howell and Elizabeth Taylor, and directed by Franco Zeffirelli.[53] It received scathing reviews and was never officially released in the United States. The film is a fictional recounting of the events that led up to Toscanini making his conducting debut in Rio de Janeiro in 1886. Although nearly all of the plot is embellished, the events surrounding the sudden and unexpected conducting debut are based on fact.[citation needed]
John Kavanagh (actor) plays Toscanini in a brief scene in Florence Foster Jenkins (film).
Acclaim and criticism
Throughout his career, Toscanini was virtually idolized by the critics, as well as by most fellow musicians and the public alike. He enjoyed the kind of consistent critical acclaim during his life that few other musicians have had.[citation needed] He was featured three times on the cover of Time magazine, in 1926, 1934, and again in 1948. In the magazine's history, he is the only conductor to have been so honored.[54][55][56][failed verification] On March 25, 1989, the United States Postal Service issued a 25 cent postage stamp in his honor.[57][full citation needed] Some online critics such as Peter Gutmann have dismissed much of what was written about Toscanini during his lifetime and for about ten years afterwards as "adoring puffery".[58] Nevertheless, composers and others who worked with Toscanini, including Aaron Copland in an audio interview, readily acknowledged what they felt was his greatness.[59][failed verification]
Over the past thirty years or so, as a new generation has appeared, an increasing amount of
Some contemporary critics, particularly Virgil Thomson, also took Toscanini to task for not paying enough attention to the "modern repertoire" (i.e., 20th-century composers, of which Thomson was one). It may be speculated, knowing Toscanini's antipathy toward much 20th-century music, that perhaps Thomson had a feeling that the conductor would never have played any of his (Thomson's) music, and that perhaps because of this, Thomson bore a resentment against him. During Toscanini's middle years, however, such now widely accepted composers as Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy, whose music the conductor held in very high regard, were considered to be radical and modern. He performed works by Zoltán Kodály, and in 1930 Toscanini requested him to compose a symphony which would be premiered in 1961 and dedicated to the memory of Toscanini.[61] He also performed excerpts from Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka and his Feu d'artifice, two of Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonies (Nos. 1 and 7), and three of George Gershwin's most famous works, Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and the Piano Concerto in F, though his performances of these last three works have been criticized as not being "jazzy" enough.[who?]
Another criticism leveled at Toscanini stems from the constricted sound quality that comes from many of his recordings, notably those made in NBC's
Toscanini has also been criticized for metronomic (rhythmically too rigid) performances:
Others attacked the conductor on the ground that he was a slave to the metronome. They said that his beat was inexorable, that his rhythms were rigid, that he was an enemy of Italian song and a wrecker of the art of bel canto.[62]: 109
When he was young as a conductor, it was complained of Toscanini that he held the tempo and rhythm of the music firmly to its course and that it had the mechanical exactitude of a metronome.[62]: 280— The Maestro: The Life Of Arturo Toscanini (1951) by Howard Taubman
Toscanini has also been noted for his temper in rehearsals. Apparently less controlled later in life, he was known to vent his anger in front of the orchestra when he thought they were not playing well. One well-known example comes from a recording of a rehearsal for La Traviata in which he yells in frustration when the double basses aren't quite together.[63][64][65][non-primary source needed]
The song (If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini) is a satire of Toscanini.[66]
Legacy
Beginning in 1963, NBC Radio broadcast a weekly series of programs entitled Toscanini: The Man Behind The Legend, commemorating Toscanini's years with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The show, hosted by NBC announcer Ben Grauer, who had also hosted many of the original Toscanini broadcasts, featured interviews with members of the conductor's family, as well as musicians of the NBC Symphony, David Sarnoff, and noted classical musicians who had worked with the conductor, such as Giovanni Martinelli. It spotlighted partial or complete rebroadcasts of many of Toscanini's recordings. The program ran for at least three years, and did not feature any of the revisionist commentary about the conductor one finds so often today in magazines such as American Record Guide.[67][failed verification] The series was rebroadcast by PBS radio in the late 1970s.[citation needed]
In 1986, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts purchased the bulk of Toscanini's papers, scores and sound recordings from his heirs. Named The Toscanini Legacy, this vast collection contains thousands of letters, programs and various documents, over 1,800 scores and more than 400 hours of sound recordings. A finding aid for the scores and sound recordings is available on the library's website. In-house finding aids are available for other parts of the collection.[citation needed]
The library also has many other collections that have Toscanini materials in them, such as the Bruno Walter papers, the
The Maestro Revisited
In 1967, The Bell Telephone Hour telecast a program entitled Toscanini: The Maestro Revisited, written and narrated by New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg, and featuring commentary by conductors Eugene Ormandy, George Szell, Erich Leinsdorf and Milton Katims (who had played viola in the NBC Symphony Orchestra). The program also featured clips from two of Toscanini's television concerts, in the days before they were remastered for video and DVD.
Quotations
- Of German composer Richard Strauss, whose political stance during World War II was controversial: "To Strauss the composer I take off my hat; to Strauss the man I put it back on again."[68]
- "The conduct of my life has been, is, and will always be the echo and reflection of my conscience."[citation needed]
- "Gentlemen, be democrats in life but aristocrats in art."[citation needed]
- Referring to the first movement of the Eroica: "Some say this is Napoleon, some Hitler, some Mussolini. Bah! For me it is simply allegro con brio."[69]
- At the point where Puccini left off writing the finale of his unfinished opera, Turandot: "Here Death triumphed over art" (Toscanini then left the opera pit, the lights went up and the audience left in silence).[70]
- While in California in 1940, Toscanini was invited to visit a movie set at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. There he said with tears in his eyes, "I will remember three things in my life: the sunset, the Grand Canyon and Eleanor Powell's dancing."[citation needed]
References
- ISBN 0-306-80137-X.
- ^ Jornal do Commercio, 5th July 1886 p.1: Microcosmo. Theatro Imperial.
- ^ Tarozzi, Giuseppe (1977). Non muore la musica – La vita e l'opera di Arturo Toscanini. SUGARco Edizioni. p. 36.
- ^ Mortimer H. Frank, Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years, p. 149
- ^ David Mason Greene, Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers, p. 819
- ISBN 0-8014-9430-3.
- ^ Verdi, however, was quick to criticise Toscanini when appropriate, as in a rehearsal of Otello where he was unhappy with the playing of the solo for four muted cellos that ushers in the final duet of the first act of Otello: "Gia nella notte densa". cf. Conati et al., p. 304
- ^ Opera. June 1954, p. 334
- ^ "Out Today: New Victor Records for March". The New York Times, March 1, 1921 (advertisement)
- ^ Greg Daugherty (May 2, 2013). "8 Famous People Who Missed the Lusitania". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on October 7, 2013.
- ^ Time, August 4, 1930: "Music: Toscanini at Bayreuth".
- ^ "Music: Lange's own", Time, November 25, 1935 (to be found in the Time online archive)
- ^ Chotzinoff, Samuel (1956). Toscanini: An Intimate Portrait. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 98.
- ^ a b Plaskin, 195.
- ^ Sachs, Toscanini, 154.
- ^ Sachs, Toscanini, 211.
- ISBN 1-84212-123-5.
- ^ The Double reed. International Double Reed Society. 1995. p. 65. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ Live from Studio 8H: A Tribute to Toscanini (TV Special 1980), retrieved March 17, 2023
- ^ "The Toscanini Legacy collection of sound recordings". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ a b Association for the Advancement of Instrumental Music (1993). The Instrumentalist. The Instrumentalist. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ Ewen, David (1949). American composers today: a biographical and critical guide. H.W. Wilson Co. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ A premiere of Wagenaar's Symphony No. 2, November 10, 1932; a Chasins premiere April 8, 1931; and the first performance of Hanson's Symphony No. 2 (the "Romantic") on March 1, 1933 (programs at archives.nyphil.org).
- ^ Vinson, Bill; Casey, Ginger Quering. "S.S. Brazil". Welcome Aboard Moore-McCormack Lines. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
- ^ "Stokowski out of NBC Symphony; Toscanini Bans Dual Leadership." The New York Times, June 8, 1944
- ^ MOG.com Archived June 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. MOG.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
- ^ RCA Victor liner notes
- ^ Taubman in 1951 (at page 289) quotes him (without citation) as saying "I asked myself, did I conduct that? Did I work two weeks memorizing that symphony? Impossible! I was stupid!" The violist William Carboni, when interviewed by Haggin in 1967 (at pp. 54–55 of The Toscanini Musicians Knew) quotes him (without citation) as saying "Did I play this? I must have been crazy." Marek in 1975 (at p. 234) quotes him (without citation) as saying "Did I really learn and conduct such junk?"
- ^ Peter Gutmann (1995). "Toscanini: The Last Concert". Classical Notes. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
- ^ "Survival Sought by NBC Orchestra." The New York Times, June 18, 1954
- ^ "Symphony of the Air: Former NBC Symphony Players Still Great Ensemble." The New York Times, November 14, 1954
- ^ "Arturo Toscanini, 89, dies in sleep at New York Home". Desert Sun. Vol. XXX, no. 104. IP. January 16, 1957. p. 1. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "Turismo Milano". Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- ISSN 0736-0053. Online.
- ^ "The Maestro Plays Games with Sonia on the Lawn." LIFE, November 27, 1939, 66–67
- ^ Frank, Mortimer H. "A Toscanini Odyssey", The Juilliard Journal Online, April 2002. Retrieved February 26, 2008. "That archive was housed at Wave Hill, Toscanini's Riverdale residence during World War II."
- ^ Michael Kennedy (May 12, 2002). "Conductor con brio". Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ^ Catherine Milner (April 20, 2002). "Letters detail Toscanini's affairs". Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- JSTOR 955185.
- ^ He refused to conduct the section that Alfano composed at the opera's world premiere.
- ^ "Toscanini Plays Two New Works." The New York Times, November 6, 1938; first performance of Barber's setting for string orchestra; originally a movement of his Op. 11 string quartet.
- ^ Arturo Toscanini: The Complete RCA Collection, RCA Red Seal, 2012, retrieved March 17, 2023
- ^ Eyewitness accounts by William Knorp, B.H. Haggin and others.[citation needed]
- ^ Harvey Sachs, Toscanini, pp. 302–303
- ^ NBC Symphony Broadcasts, Testament UK, retrieved March 17, 2023
- ^ Time, March 2, 1970
- ^ Harvey Sachs, Toscanini
- ^ "Penn Special Collections – Ormandy/Usher". Library.upenn.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
- ^ a b "The First Televised Orchestra Concert". Library.upenn.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
- ^ "Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations". January 13, 2009. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ Rosen, Peter (March 9, 2004), Toscanini: The Maestro / Verdi - Hymn of the Nations, retrieved March 17, 2023
- IMDb
- ^ Matthew Tobey (2007). "Movies: About Il Giovane Toscanini". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007.
- ^ "TIME Magazine Cover: Arturo Toscanini - Apr. 26, 1948 - Arturo Toscanini - Conductors - Classical Music - Music". September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "TIME Magazine Cover: Arturo Toscanini - Apr. 2, 1934 - Arturo Toscanini - Conductors - Classical Music - Music". November 29, 2008. Archived from the original on November 29, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "TIME Magazine Cover: Arturo Toscanini - Jan. 25, 1926 - Arturo Toscanini - Conductors - Classical Music - Music". June 18, 2008. Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- Scott catalog# 2411.
- ^ Peter Gutmann. "Toscanini, The Recorded Legend". www.classicalnotes.net. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "Search Results - - 173 Results". UNT Digital Library. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ Klassi.net Archived August 17, 2004, at the Wayback Machine. Klassi.net. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
- ^ "Kodaly's Symphony". Your Classical. August 16, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
- ^ a b Taubman 1951.
- ^ "The Real Toscanini: Musicians Reveal the Maestro". www.therealtoscanini.com. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "Toscanini in a rage - scary rehearsal | Ghostarchive". ghostarchive.org. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "Toscanini DESTROYS a bass section | Ghostarchive". ghostarchive.org. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ Tick, Judith; Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song; 2023; W. W. Norton & Company
- ^ "Search Results - - 173 Results". UNT Digital Library. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-19-104402-1.
- ISBN 978-0-393-03857-6.
Toscanini allegro con brio comment.
- ^ Mosco Carner, Puccini, 1974; Howard Taubman, Toscanini, 1951; quoted in Norman Lebrecht, The Book of Musical Anecdotes
Further reading
- Antek, Samuel (author) and Hupka, Robert (photographs), This Was Toscanini, New York: Vanguard Press, 1963 (Essays by an NBC Symphony musician who played under Toscanini; also includes rehearsal photographs from the latter part of Toscanini's career.)
- Frank, Mortimer H., Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years, New York: Amadeus Press, 2002. (Complete list and analysis of Toscanini's NBC Symphony performances and recordings.)
- Haggin, B. H., Arturo Toscanini: Contemporary Recollections of the Maestro, New York: Da Capo Press, 1989 (A reprint of Conversations with Toscanini and The Toscanini Musicians Knew.)
- Horowitz, Joseph, Understanding Toscanini, New York: Knopf, 1987 (contains many inaccuracies corrected by Sachs in Reflections on Toscanini and Frank in Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years)
- ISBN 0-689-10655-6(contains inaccuracies corrected by Sachs in Toscanini)
- Marsh, R. C. Toscanini on Records – Part I: High Fidelity, vol. 4, 1954, pp. 55–58
- Marsh Part II: vol 4,1955, pp. 75–81
- Marsh Part III: vol 4,1955, pp. 83–91
- ISBN 0-88254-657-0(includes discography)
- Meyer, Donald Carl, The NBC Symphony Orchestra. UMI Dissertation Services, 1994.
- O'Connell, Charles, The Other Side of the Record. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1947.
- Sachs, Harvey, Toscanini, New York: Prima Publishing, 1995. (Reprint of standard and best biography originally published 1978)
- Harvey Sachs, Reflections on Toscanini, New York: Prima Publishing, 1993. (Series of essays on various aspects of Toscanini's life and impact)
- Harvey Sachs, ed., The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, New York: Knopf, 2003.
- Harvey Sachs, Toscanini: Musician of Conscience, New York/London: Liveright, 2017. (Completely new and more detailed biography.)
- Selden-Goth, Gisela, editor. Arturo Toscanini Vienna: Reichner Verlag 1937
- Taubman, Howard (1951). The Maestro: The Life of Arturo Toscanini. New York: Simon & Schuster. (contains inaccuracies corrected by Sachs in Toscanini)
- Teachout, Terry, Toscanini Lives, Commentary Magazine, July/August 2002
External links
- Arturo Toscanini at AllMusic
- Talking About Arturo Toscanini at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
- Toscanini and the History of the NBC Symphony plus Live WWII broadcast
- NPR special on the selection of the 1938 radio broadcast of Toscanini conducting the NBC Orchestra to the 2005 National Recording Registry
- Four lists compiled by Harvey Sachs as addenda to his new biography: chronological list of all performances, alphabetical list by composer of all works in repertoire, select bibliography, and reference notes for the biography itself.
- Newspaper clippings about Arturo Toscanini in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Arturo Toscanini recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.