Arturo Toscanini

Toscanini redirects here. For the surname, see

Toscanini (surname).
Arturo Toscanini (Italian: [arturo toskanini]; March

Toscanini in 1908.

25, 1867 January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor.

He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late
19th and of the 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and
sonority, and his photographic memory.[1] He was at various times the music director of La Scala Milan, the
Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra. Later in his career he was appointed the rst music director of the NBC Symphony
Orchestra (193754), 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.

Caricature of Toscanini by Enrico Caruso

studied the cello. Living conditions at the conservatory

were harsh. For example, his diet consisted almost completely of sh. When he became successful he never ate
anything that came from the sea. He joined the orchestra
of an opera company, with which he toured South America in 1886. While presenting Aida in Rio de Janeiro on
1 Biography
June 25, Leopoldo Miguez, the locally hired conductor,
reached the summit of a two-month escalating conict
with the performers due to his rather poor command of
1.1 Early years
the work, to the point that the singers went on strike and
Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won forced the companys general manager to seek a substia scholarship to the local music conservatory, where he tute conductor. Carlo Superti and Aristide Venturi tried
1

1 BIOGRAPHY

unsuccessfully to nish the work. In desperation, the

singers suggested the name of their assistant Chorus Master, 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. The public was
taken by surprise, at rst by the youth and sheer aplomb
of this unknown conductor, then by his solid mastery.
The result was astounding acclaim. For the rest of that
season Toscanini conducted eighteen operas, all with absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at
age 19.[2][3]

formance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by critics

and audiences. Toscanini was the rst non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth (19301931), and the New
York Philharmonic was the rst non-German orchestra
to play there. In the 1930s, he conducted at the Salzburg
Festival (19341937), 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, Hans
Lange, the son of the last Master of the Sultans Music
in Istanbul, who, later, became conductor of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra and the legendary founder of the
as a professional enUpon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path New Mexico Symphony Orchestra
[9]
semble,
was
his
concert
master.
for some time. He continued to conduct, his rst appearance in Italy being at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, on During his career, Toscanini collaborated with such legNovember 4, 1886,[4] in the world premiere of the revised endary artists as Enrico Caruso, Feodor Chaliapin, Ezio
version of Alfredo Catalani's Edmea (it had had its pre- Pinza, Jussi Bjrling, and Geraldine Farrar. Although
miere in its original form at La Scala, Milan, on February he also worked with Wagnerian heldentenor Lauritz Mel27, of that year). This was the beginning of Toscaninis chior, he would not work with Melchiors frequent partner
lifelong friendship and championing of Catalani; he even Kirsten Flagstad after her political sympathies became
named his rst daughter Wally after the heroine of Cata- suspect during World War II; it was Helen Traubel who
lanis opera La Wally.[5] However, he also returned to his sang with Melchior instead of Flagstad at the Toscanini
chair in the cello section, and participated as cellist in the concerts.
world premiere of Verdi's Otello (La Scala, Milan, 1887)
under the composers supervision. Verdi, who habitually
complained that conductors never seemed interested in 1.2.1 Lusitania
directing his scores the way he had written them, was impressed by reports from Arrigo Boito about Toscaninis In May 1915, Toscanini was set to return to Europe
ability to interpret his scores. The composer was also im- aboard the doomed RMS Lusitania when his season at
pressed when Toscanini consulted him personally about New Yorks Metropolitan Opera ended. Instead, he cut
Verdis Te Deum, suggesting an allargando where it was his concert schedule short and left a week earlier,[10]apparnot set out in the score. Verdi said that he had left it out ently aboard the Italian liner Duca degli Abruzzi.
for fear that certain interpreters would have exaggerated
the marking.[6][7]

1.3 Departure from Italy to the United

States

1.2

National and International Fame

Gradually, Toscaninis 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 bohme and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. In
1896, Toscanini conducted his rst 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 19211929. He brought the La Scala Orchestra
to the United States on a concert tour in 1920/21, during
which he made his rst recordings (for the Victor Talking
Machine Company).
Outside Europe, Toscanini conducted at the Metropolitan
Opera in New York (19081915) as well as the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra (19261936). He toured Europe
with the New York Philharmonic in 1930. At each per-

In 1919, Toscanini ran unsuccessfully as a Fascist parliamentary candidate in Milan. He had been called the
greatest conductor in the world by Fascist leader Benito
Mussolini. Toscanini became disillusioned with fascism
already before the March on Rome and repeatedly deed the Italian dictator. He refused to display Mussolinis
photograph or conduct the Fascist anthem Giovinezza at
La Scala.[11] He raged to a friend, If I were capable of
killing a man, I would kill Mussolini.[12]
At a memorial concert for Italian composer Giuseppe
Martucci on May 14, 1931 at the Teatro Comunale in
Bologna, Toscanini was ordered to begin by playing
Giovinezza, but he refused, despite the presence of fascist
foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano in the audience. Afterwards, he was, in his own words, attacked, injured and
repeatedly hit in the face by a group of blackshirts.[13]
Mussolini, incensed by the conductors refusal, had his
phone tapped, placed him under constant surveillance,
and conscated his passport. The passport was returned
only after a world outcry over Toscaninis treatment.[11]

1.4

NBC Symphony

Upon the outbreak of WWII, Toscanini left Italy. He returned seven years later, to conduct a concert at the restored La Scala Opera House, which was destroyed during the war.[14]

1.4

NBC Symphony

Toscanini returned to the United States where the NBC

Symphony Orchestra was created for him in 1937. He
conducted his rst NBC broadcast concert on December 25, 1937, in NBC Studio 8-H in New York Citys
Rockefeller Center.[15] The acoustics of the specially
built studio were very dry; some remodeling in 1942 for
Leopold Stokowski added a bit more reverberation. (In
1950, 8-H was converted into a television studio. It has
been home to NBCs Saturday Night Live since 1975. In
1980, Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra began a series of special televised NBC concerts
called Live From Studio 8H, the rst one being a tribute to Toscanini, punctuated by clips from his television
concerts.)[16]
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 delity microphones for the broadcasts,
and they can be seen in some photographs of Toscanini
and the orchestra. Some of Toscaninis recording sessions for RCA Victor were mastered on sound lm in a
process developed about 1930, as detailed by RCA producer Charles O'Connell in his memoirs, On and O The
Record. In addition, hundreds of hours of Toscaninis
rehearsals with the NBC were preserved and are now
housed in the Toscanini Legacy archive at The New York
Public Library.[17]
Toscanini was often criticized for neglecting American
music. However, on November 5, 1938, he conducted
the world premieres of two orchestral works by Samuel
Barber, Adagio for Strings and Essay for Orchestra.[18][19]
The performance received signicant critical acclaim.[18]
In 1945, he led the orchestra in recording sessions of the
Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grof in Carnegie Hall (supervised by Grof) and An American in Paris by George
Gershwin in NBCs Studio 8-H. Both works had earlier been performed in broadcast concerts. He also conducted broadcast performances of Copland's El Saln
Mxico; Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue with soloists Earl
Wild and Benny Goodman and Piano Concerto in F with
pianist Oscar Levant; and music by other American composers, including marches of John Philip Sousa. He
even wrote his own orchestral arrangement of The StarSpangled Banner, which was incorporated into the NBC
Symphonys performances of Verdis Hymn of the Nations, together with the Soviet Internationale. (Earlier,
while music director of the New York Philharmonic, he
conducted music by Abram Chasins, Bernard Wagenaar,
and Howard Hanson.)

3
In 1940 Toscanini took the orchestra on a goodwill tour
of South America, sailing from New York on the ocean
liner SS Brazil on 14 May.[20] 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 which Toscanini wrote
on March 10, 1941 to RCAs David Sarno. 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. So Leopold Stokowski was engaged on a three-year contract instead and served as the
NBC Symphonys music director from 1941 until 1944.
Toscaninis state of mind soon underwent a change and
he returned as Stokowskis co-conductor for the latters
second and third seasons resuming full control in 1944.
One of the more-remarkable broadcasts was in July 1942,
when Toscanini conducted the American premiere of
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7. Because of
World War II, the score was microlmed in the Soviet Union and brought by courier to the United States.
Stokowski had previously given the US premieres of
Shostakovichs 1st, 3rd and 6th Symphonies in Philadelphia, and in December 1941 urged NBC to obtain the
score of the 7th as he wanted to conduct its premiere as
well. But Toscanini coveted this for himself and there
were a number of remarkable letters between the two
conductors (reproduced by Harvey Sachs in his biography) before Stokowski agreed to let Toscanini have the
privilege of conducting the rst performance. Unfortunately for New York listeners, a major thunderstorm
virtually obliterated the NBC radio signals there, but
the performance was heard elsewhere and preserved on
transcription discs.[21] It was later issued by RCA Victor in the 1967 centennial boxed set tribute to Toscanini,
which included a number of NBC broadcasts never released on discs.[22] In Testimony Shostakovich himself expressed a dislike for the performance, after he heard a
recording of the broadcast. In Toscaninis later years the
conductor expressed dislike for the work and amazement
that he had actually conducted it.[23]
In the spring of 1950, Toscanini led the orchestra on an
extensive transcontinental tour. It was during that 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.
The NBC concerts continued in Studio 8-H until 1950.
That fall, needing 8-H for television broadcasting, they
were moved to Manhattan Center, then soon thereafter
moved again to Carnegie Hall at Toscaninis insistence,
where many of the orchestras recording sessions had
been held due to the acrid acoustics of Studio 8-H.
Toscaninis nal broadcast performance, an all-Wagner
program, took place on April 4, 1954, in Carnegie Hall.
That June, he participated in his nal recording sessions,
remaking portions of two Verdi operas so they could be

4
commercially released. Toscanini was 87 years old when
he nally retired. After his retirement, the NBC Symphony was reorganized as the Symphony of the Air, making regular performances and recordings, until it was disbanded in 1963. It was heard one last time (as the NBC
Symphony Orchestra) in the 1963 telecast of Gian Carlo
Menotti's Christmas opera for television, Amahl and the
Night Visitors.

INNOVATIONS

(Here the opera ends, because at this point the maestro

died).[24] During his funeral service, Leyla Gencer sang
an aria from Verdis Requiem.
In his will, he left his baton to his protge Herva Nelli,
who sang in the broadcasts of Otello, Ada, Falsta, the
Verdi Requiem, and Un ballo in maschera.
Toscanini was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.

On radio, Toscanini conducted seven complete operas,

including Fidelio, La bohme, La traviata, and Otello,
all of which were eventually released on records and
CD, thus enabling the modern listening public to have at 2 Personal life
least some idea of what an opera conducted by Toscanini
Toscanini married Carla De Martini on June 21, 1897,
sounded like.
when she was not yet 20 years old. Their rst child,
Walter, was born on March 19, 1898. A daughter, Wally,
1.5 Last years
was born on January 16, 1900. Carla gave birth to
another boy, Giorgio, in September 1901, but he died
With the help of his son Walter, Toscanini spent his re- of diphtheria on June 10, 1906. Then, that same year
maining years evaluating and editing tapes and transcrip- (1906), Carla gave birth to their second daughter, Wanda.
tions of his performances with the NBC Symphony for
Toscanini worked with many great singers and musicians
possible future LP release. Many of these recordings
throughout his career, but few impressed him as much as
were eventually issued by RCA Victor.
Vladimir Horowitz. They worked together a number of
Sachs and other biographers have documented the nu- times and recorded Brahms second piano concerto and
merous conductors, singers, and musicians who visited Tchaikovskys rst piano concerto with the NBC SymToscanini during his retirement. He was a big fan of phony for RCA Victor. Horowitz also became close to
early television, especially boxing and wrestling telecasts, Toscanini and his family. In 1933, Wanda Toscanini maras well as comedy programs.
ried Horowitz, with the conductors blessings and warnings. It was Wandas daughter, Sonia, who was once photographed by Life playing with the conductor.
During World War II, Toscanini lived in Wave Hill, a historic home in Riverdale.[25]
Despite the reported indelities revealed in Toscaninis
letters documented by Harvey Sachs, he remained married to Carla until she died on June 23, 1951.[26][27]

3 Gallery
Arturo Toscanini poses on a ships deck.
Toscanini lifts his hat for the camera on a ships
deck.
Toscanini in a dark suit.
Toscaninis wife, Carla.
Toscaninis family grave at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan
in 2015

Advertisement for one of the rst records made by

Toscanini conducting the La Scala Orchestra.

Arturo Toscanini holding a small dog.

Toscanini died on January 16, 1957 at the age of 89 at
his home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New
York City. His body was returned to Italy and was buried
in the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. His epitaph is 4 Innovations
taken from one account of his remarks concluding the
1926 premiere of Puccinis unnished Turandot: "Qui At La Scala, which had what was then the most modnisce l'opera, perch a questo punto il maestro morto" ern stage lighting system installed in 1901 and an orches-

5.1

Operatic premieres

tral 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 rst established among all the components:
singers, orchestra, chorus, staging, sets, and costumes.
Toscanini favored the traditional orchestral seating plan
with the rst violins and cellos on the left, the violas on
the near right, and the second violins on the far right.

Premieres

Toscanini conducted the world premieres of many operas, four of which have become part of the standard
operatic repertoire: Pagliacci, La bohme, La fanciulla del West and Turandot; he took an active role in
Alfano's completion of Puccinis Turandot.[28] He also
conducted the rst Italian performances of Siegfried,
Gtterdmmerung, Salome, Pellas et Mlisande, and
Euryanthe, as well as the South American premieres
of Tristan und Isolde and Madama Buttery and the
North American premieres of Boris Godunov and Dmitri
Shostakovichs Symphony No. 7. He also conducted the
world premiere of Samuel Barber's most famous work,
the Adagio for Strings.

5.1

Operatic premieres

Arturo Toscanini

Edmea (revised version) by Alfredo Catalani

Turin, November 4, 1886

Mos by Don Lorenzo Perosi Milan, November

16, 1901

Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo Milan, May 21,

1892

Germania by Alberto Franchetti Milan, March 11,

1902

Guglielmo Swarten by Gnaga Rome, November

15, 1892

Oceana by Antonio Smareglia Milan, January 22,

1903

Savitri by Natale Canti Bologna, December 1,

1894

Cassandra by Vittorio Gnecchi Bologna, December 5, 1905

Emma Liona by Antonio Lozzi Venice, May 24,

1895

Gloria by Francesco Cilea Milan, April 15, 1907

La bohme 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

La fanciulla del West by Puccini New York, December 10, 1910

Madame Sans-Gne 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

Zaza by Leoncavallo Milan, November 10, 1900

La Cena delle Bee by Giordano Milan, December

20, 1924

Le Maschere by Pietro Mascagni Milan, January

17, 1901

I Cavalieri di Ekebu by Riccardo Zandonai Milan,

March 7, 1925

6 RECORDED LEGACY
Turandot by Puccini Milan, April 25, 1926
Fra Gherado by Pizzetti Milan, May 16, 1928
Il Re by Giordano Milan, January 12, 1929

5.2

Orchestral premieres

of seventy. As the recording process improved, so did

Toscaninis negative attitude towards making records and
he eventually became more interested in preserving his
performances for posterity. The majority of Toscaninis
recordings were made with the NBC Symphony and cover
the bulk of his repertoire. These recordings document the
nal phase of his 68-year conducting career.

Adagio for Strings and First Essay for Orchestra by

6.2 Hearing Toscanini
Samuel Barber NBC Symphony Orchestra, New
York, November 5, 1938
In some of his recordings, Toscanini can be heard singing,
Western Suite by Elie Siegmeister NBC Symphony humming, even shouting. This is especially notable in
RCAs various editions of NBC Radios transcription
Orchestra, New York, November 1945.
recordings of La Bohme, taken down during broadcast
concerts in Studio 8-H in February 1946. Tenor Jan
Peerce later said that Toscaninis deep involvement in the
6 Recorded legacy
performances helped him to achieve the necessary emotional peaks, especially in the nal moments of the opera
See also: Arturo Toscanini discography
when the beloved Mimi (sung by Licia Albanese) is dying.
During the Tuba mirum and Dias irae sections of the
January 1951 live concert recording of Verdi's Requiem,
Toscanini can be heard shouting as the brass reaches the
6.1 Overview
scores f climaxes. Keep in mind, however, that numerous portions of the original LP release were taken
Toscanini made his rst recordings in December 1920 from the rehearsals preceding the concert. (RCAs two
with the La Scala Orchestra in the Trinity Church stu- CD editions do not include them but are instead taken
dio of the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, exclusively from the 7-inch reels of 30-i.p.s. quarter-inch
New Jersey and his last with the NBC Symphony Orches- tape recorded by RCA with its own microphones (i.e., not
tra in June 1954 in Carnegie Hall. His entire catalog of those of NBC Radio) during the concert. In his recording
commercial recordings was issued by RCA Victor, save of Richard Strauss' Death and Transguration, Toscanini
for two single-sided recordings for Brunswick in 1926 can be heard sighing quite audibly near the end of the
(his rst by the electrical process) with the New York piece; RCA Victor left this in the commercial release, a
Philharmonic Orchestra and a series of excellent record- record that includes sections from the dress rehearsal, inings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1937 to cluding the quiet opening. [RCA Victor LP LM-1891.]
1939 for EMI's His Masters Voice label (which was RCA
Victors European aliate). Toscanini also recorded with
the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall for RCA 6.3 Specialties
Victor in 1929 in a series of recording sessions, concerts
in 1931 and 1933, and another series of recording ses- He was especially famous for his performances of
sions in 1936. He made a series of long unissued record- Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Debussy
ings with the Philadelphia Orchestra for RCA Victor and his own compatriots Rossini, Verdi, Boito and
in Philadelphias Academy of Music in 1941 and 1942. Puccini. He made many recordings, especially towards
All of Toscaninis commercially issued RCA Victor and the end of his career, which are still in print. In addition,
HMV recordings have been digitally re-mastered and re- there are many recordings available of his broadcast perleased on compact disc. There are also recorded con- formances, as well as his remarkable rehearsals with the
certs with various European orchestras, especially with NBC Symphony.
La Scala Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. In
2012, RCA Red Seal released a new 84 CD boxed set
reissue of Toscaninis complete RCA Victor recordings 6.4 Charles O'Connell on Toscanini
and commercially issued HMV recordings with the BBC
Symphony Orchestra.[29] In 2013, EMI Classics issued a Charles O'Connell, who produced many of Toscaninis
6-CD set containing Toscaninis complete HMV record- RCA Victor recordings in the 1930s and early 1940s,
ings with the BBC Symphony. Toscanini disliked record- said that RCA decided to record the NBC Symphony Oring, especially the acoustic method and for several years chestra in Carnegie Hall, whenever possible, after numerrecorded only sporadically as a result. He was fty-three ous customer complaints about the at and dull-sounding
years old when he made his rst recordings in 1920 and early recordings made in Studio 8-H in 1938 and 1939.
didn't begin regular recording until 1938, after he became (Nevertheless, recording sessions in Studio 8-H persisted
conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra at the age as late as June 1950, probably because of alterations to

6.6

High delity and stereo

the studio beginning in 1939, including installation of

an acoustical shell in 1941 at Leopold Stokowskis insistence, before he would 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 Toscaninis 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 fortunate to attend Toscaninis concerts later said the NBC string section was especially
outstanding.[30]

6.5

Philadelphia Orchestra recordings

O'Connell also extensively documented RCAs technical

problems with the Philadelphia Orchestra recordings of
1941/42, which required extensive electronic editing before they could be released (well after Toscaninis death,
beginning in 1963, with the rest following in the 1970s).
Harvey Sachs also recounts that the masters were damaged, possibly because of the use of somewhat-inferior
materials imposed by wartime restrictions. Toscanini had
listened to some of the test pressings and had given his
approval to some of the recordings, rejected others and
was prepared to re-record the rejected sides. Unfortunately, an AFM recording ban from 1942 to 1944 prevented immediate retakes; by the time the ban ended, the
Philadelphia Orchestra had left RCA Victor for Columbia
Records and RCA apparently was hesitant to promote the
orchestra any further. RCA had declared the defective
masters unsalvageable and Toscanini eventually recorded
all of the same music with the NBC Symphony. The best
sounding of the recordings is the Schubert Symphony No.
9 (The Great), which had been successfully restored
and issued by RCA in 1963. In 1968, the Philadelphia
Orchestra returned to RCA and the company was more
favorable toward issuing all of the discs. RCA nally released a complete edition of the recordings in 1977 and,
as Sachs noted, by that time some of the masters may
have deteriorated further. As for the historic recordings, even on the CD versions, rst released in 1991,
some of the sides have considerable surface noise and
some distortion, especially during the louder passages.
Nevertheless, despite the occasional problems, the sound
has been markedly improved on CD, and the entire set
is an impressive document of Toscaninis collaboration
with the Philadelphia musicians. A 2006 RCA reissue
makes more-eective use of digital processing in an attempt to produce better sound. Longtime Philadelphia
director Eugene Ormandy expressed his appreciation for
what Toscanini achieved with the orchestra.

6.6 High delity and stereo

In the late 1940s when magnetic tape replaced direct wax
disc recording and high delity long-playing records were
introduced, the conductor said he was much happier making recordings. Sachs wrote that an Italian journalist,
Raaele 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.[31]
NBC recorded all of Toscaninis broadcast performances
on 16-inch 33-1/3 rpm transcription discs from the start
of the Maestros broadcasts in December 1937, but the
infrequent use of higher delity sound lm for recording
sessions began as early as 1933 with the Philharmonic,
and by December 1948 real high delity made its appearance when RCA began using magnetic tape on a regular
basis, high delity eventually becoming 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 rst 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 nally implemented for
the recording of Beethovens MISSA SOLEMNIS. With
RCAs experiments in stereo beginning in early 1953
when two-track decks were rst delivered by the engineers to the record producers (per Jack Pfeier, 11/77
interview, NYC, by CWR), stereo tapes were eventually made of Toscaninis nal two broadcast concerts,
plus the dress rehearsal for the nal broadcast, as documented by Samuel Antek in This Was Toscanini and
by Pfeier. These followed test sessions in New Yorks
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. For Toscanini, later in March and in early
April, the microphones were placed relatively close to the
orchestra with limited separation, so the stereo eects
were not as dramatic as the commercial Living Stereo
recordings RCA Victor began to make in March with
the Chicago Symphony a couple of weeks earlier [Strauss
ALSO SPRACHT ZARATHUSTRA being the most notable]. (The two Toscanini concerts recorded in stereo
have been issued on LP and CD and have also been offered for download in digitally enhanced sound by Pristine Classical, a company which produces digitally enhanced versions of older classical recordings.) Shortly
after the nal concert, Guido Cantelli took the podium
in a hastily organized session to record the Franck SYMPHONY using the same microphone and equipment setup put in place for the Maestro, and the stereo version

6 RECORDED LEGACY

of the recording was nally released in the late 1970s as

an RCA Red Seal LP. (EMI holds the rights and has issued several CD versions.) Toscaninis June sessions were
done monophonically, the tapes being intended as inserts
in otherwise complete monophonic recordings.

Debussy, La mer (1950 and 1940 broadcast; only

the 1950 version was released ocially)

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-delity monophonic sound by RCA Victor. Recently a separate NBC tape of the same performance, using a dierent microphone in a dierent 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.

Mendelssohn, Incidental Music from A Midsummer

Nights Dream, (NBC 1947, studio and broadcast
versions; Philadelphia 1941); Scherzo, New York
Philharmonic, (1929)

6.7

Puccini, La bohme (1946 broadcast)

Notable recordings

Among his most critically acclaimed recordings are the

following (with the NBC Symphony unless otherwise
shown):
(Many of these were never released ocially during
Toscaninis lifetime)
Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 Eroica (1953; also
1939 and 1949 recordings)
Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 Pastoral (1952)
Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 (1936, PhilharmonicSymphony of New York)
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (1952 and 1938) (only
the 1952 recording was released ocially)
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis, (1953 and 1940 NBC
broadcast) (Only the 1953 version was released ofcially.)
Berlioz, Romo et Juliette (1947 NBC broadcast)
(only excerpts released during Toscaninis 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).

Dvok, Symphony No. 9 From the New World

(1953)

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 ocially released.)

Mozart, Die Zauberte (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 ocially released.)
Schubert, Symphony No. 9 (Philadelphia, 1941;
NBC 1947 and 1953)
Tchaikovsky, Piano concerto No. 1 in B at minor,
Op. 23, Vladimir Horowitz and NBC Symphony,
(live recording of April 25, 1943 War Bonds benet
concert at Carnegie Hall, rst 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, Falsta (1937, Salzburg Festival with restored sound on the Andante label; 1950 NBC
broadcast)
Verdi, Rigoletto (Act IV only, 1944; from World
War II Red Cross benet 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 Toscaninis batons, was released on an unofcial recording in 1995)
Verdi, Otello (1947 NBC broadcast)
Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg (1937,
Salzburg Festival; original Selenophone sound-onlm recording restored on Andante.)

6.11

The Arturo Toscanini Society

6.8

Rarities

There are many pieces which Toscanini never recorded

in the studio; among these, some of the most-interestingsurviving recordings (o-the-air) include:
Meyerbeer Overture to Dinorah (1938,
Testament)[32]

on

Stravinsky, Suite from Petrushka (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)

A few of the hundreds of hours of rehearsal tapes featuring

Boito, scenes from Mestofele and Nerone, La Scala, Toscanini, residing in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archive of
Recorded Sound, a division of The New York Public Library for
Milan, 1948 Boito Memorial Concert.
the Performing Arts

Mussorgsky, Prelude to Khovanshchina (1953)

6.9

Rehearsals and broadcasts

Toscaninis European Inheritance in International Classical Record Collector (1998, 15 228). Frank and Dyment also discuss Maestro Toscaninis performance history in the 50th anniversary issue of Classic Record Collector (2006, 47) Frank with 'Toscanini Myth and Reality' (1014) 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' (226) 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.' (347).
There is also a feature article on Toscaninis interpretation of Brahmss First Symphony Norman C. Nelson,
'First Among Equals [...] Toscaninis interpretation of
Brahmss First Symphony in the context of others (28
33)

Many hundreds of hours of Toscaninis 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 Toscaninis guest appearances with the La Scala
Orchestra from 1946 until 1952 include a live recording of Verdis Requiem with the young Renata Tebaldi.
Toscaninis ten NBC Symphony telecasts from 1948 until
1952 were preserved in kinescope lms of the live broadcasts. These lms, issued by RCA on VHS tape and laser
disc and on DVD by Testament, provide unique video
documentation of the passionate yet restrained podium 6.11 The Arturo Toscanini Society
technique for which he was well known.
In 1969, Clyde J. Key acted on a dream he had of
meeting Toscanini by starting the Arturo Toscanini So6.10 Recording guide
ciety to release a number of unapproved live performances by Toscanini. As Time Magazine reported, Key
A guide to Toscaninis recording career can be found scoured the U.S. and Europe for o-the-air transcripin Mortimer H. Franks From the Pit to the Podium: tions of Toscanini broadcasts, acquiring almost 5,000
Toscanini in America in International Classical Record transcriptions (all transferred to tape) of previously unreCollector (1998, 15 821) and Christopher Dyments leased materiala complete catalogue of broadcasts by

10
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, nonprot club based in Dumas, Texas, it offered members ve or six LPs annually for a $25-a-year
membership fee. Keys rst package oering included
Brahms' German Requiem, Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 88
and 104, and Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, all NBC
Symphony broadcasts dating from the late 1930s or early
1940s. In 1970, the Society releases included Sibelius'
Symphony No. 4, Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony,
dating from the same NBC period; and a Rossini-VerdiPuccini LP emanating from the post-War reopening of
La Scala on May 11, 1946 with the Maestro conducting. That same year it released a Beethoven bicentennial set that included the 1935 Missa Solemnis with the
Philharmonic and LPs of the 1948 televised concert of
the ninth symphony taken from an FM radio transcription, complete with Ben Grauers comments. (In the early
1990s, the kinescopes of these and the other televised
concerts were released by RCA with soundtracks dubbed
in from the NBC radio transcriptions; in 2006, they were
re-released by Testament on DVD.)

TELEVISION

able performance not approved by the Maestro was his

December 1948 NBC broadcast of Dvok'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 Maestros 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.

7 Television

Arturo Toscanini was one of the rst conductors to make

extended appearances on live television. Between 1948
and 1952, he conducted ten concerts telecast on NBC,
including a two-part concert performance of Verdis complete opera Aida starring Herva Nelli and Richard Tucker,
and the rst complete telecast of Beethovens Ninth SymAdditional releases included a number of Beethoven symphony. All of these were simulcast on radio. These conphonies recorded with the New York Philharmonic durcerts were all shown only once during that four-year span,
ing the 1930s, a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto
but they were preserved on kinescopes.[34]
No. 27 on February 20, 1936, at which Rudolf Serkin
made his New York debut, and one of the most celebrated The telecasts began on March 20, 1948, with an
underground Toscanini recordings of all, the legendary all-Wagner program, including the Prelude to Act
1940 broadcast version of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, III of Lohengrin; the overture and bacchanale from
which has better soloists (Zinka Milanov, Jussi Bjoerling, Tannhuser; Forest Murmurs from Siegfried; Dawn
both in their prime) and a more powerful style than the and Siegfrieds Rhine Journey from Gtterdmmerung;
1953 RCA Victor studio recording, although the micro- and The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkre. On
the very same day that this concert was telecast live,
phone placement was kinder to the soloists in 1953.
conductor Eugene Ormandy also made his live televiBecause the Arturo Toscanini Society was nonprot, Key
sion concert debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra.[35]
said he believed he had successfully bypassed both copyThey performed Weber's overture to Der Freischutz and
right restrictions and the maze of contractual ties between
Rachmanino's Symphony no. 1, which had been reRCA and the Maestros family. However, RCAs attorcently rediscovered.[36] The Ormandy concert was teleneys were soon looking into the matter to see if they
cast by rival network CBS, but the schedules were aragreed. As long as it stayed small, the Society appeared
ranged so that the two programs would not interfere with
to oer little real competition to RCA. But classical-LP
one another.[36]
prots were low enough even in 1970, and piracy by yby-night rms so prevalent within the industry at that time Less than a month after the rst Toscanini televised
(an estimated $100 million in tape sales for 1969 alone), concert, a complete performance by the conductor of
that even a benevolent buccaneer outt like the Arturo Beethovens Ninth Symphony was telecast on April 3,
Toscanini Society had to be looked at twice before it 1948. On November 13, 1948, there was an all-Brahms
program, including the Concerto for Violin, Cello, and
could be tolerated.[33]
Orchestra in A minor (Mischa Mischako, violin; Frank
Magazine and newspaper reports subsequently detailed
Miller, cello); Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52 (with two pilegal action taken against Key and the Society, presumanists and a small chorus); and Hungarian Dance No.
ably after some of the LPs began to appear in retail stores.
1 in G minor. On December 3, 1948, Toscanini conToscanini fans and record collectors were dismayed beducted Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor; Dvok's
cause, although Toscanini had not approved the release
Symphonic Variations; and Wagners original overture to
of these performances in every case, many of them were
Tannhuser.
found to be further proof of the greatness of the Maestros
musical talents. One outstanding example of a remark- There were two Toscanini telecasts in 1949, both devoted
to the concert performance of Verdis Aida from studio

11
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.
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 Walkre featured on the
March 1948 telecast, plus the Prelude to Act II of
Lohengrin; the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und
Isolde; and Siegfrieds Death and Funeral Music from
Gtterdmmerung.

Italy (the World War I allied nations), to which Toscanini

added the Soviet "Internationale" and "The Star Spangled
Banner". Tenor Jan Peerce and the Westminster Choir
performed in the latter work and the lm was narrated by
Burgess Meredith.[37]
The lm was released by RCA/BMG on DVD in 2004.
By this time the Internationale had been cut from the
1943 lm, but the complete Hymn of the Nations can
still be heard in all releases of the audio recording of the
lm issued by RCA.[38] Hymn of the Nations was nominated for a 1944 Academy Award for Best Documentary
Short.[39]

Toscanini: The Maestro is a 1985 documentary made for

cable television. The lm features archival footage of
the conductor and interviews with musicians who worked
with him. This lm was released on VHS and in 2004 on
On March 15, 1952, Toscanini conducted the Sym- the same DVD with Hymn of the Nations.
phonic Interlude from Franck's Rdemption; Sibelius's En Toscanini is the subject of the 1988 ctionalized biograSaga; Debussy's Nuages and Fetes from Nocturnes; phy Il giovane Toscanini (Young Toscanini), starring C.
and the overture of Rossini's William Tell. The nal Thomas Howell and Dame Elizabeth Taylor, and directed
live Toscanini telecast, on March 22, 1952, included by Franco Zerelli.[40] It received scathing reviews and
Beethovens Symphony No. 5, and Respighi's The Pines
was never ocially released in the United States. The
of Rome.
lm is a ctional recounting of the events that led up to
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.
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 laser disc beginning in 1989. The audio portion of the sound was
taken, not from the noisy kinescopes, but from 33-1/3
rpm 16-inch transcription disc and high delity audio
tape recordings made simultaneously by RCA technicians
during the televised concerts. The hi- audio was synchronized with the kinescope video for the home video
release. Original introductions by NBCs longtime announcer Ben Grauer were replaced with new commentary by Martin Bookspan. The entire group of Toscanini
videos has since been reissued by Testament on DVD,
with further improvements to the sound.

Film

In December 1943, Toscanini made a 31-minute lm

for the United States Oce of War Information called
Hymn of the Nations, directed by Alexander Hammid.
It was mostly lmed in NBCs Studio 8-H and consists
of Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony in a performance of Verdis Overture to La Forza del Destino
and Verdis Hymn of the Nations (Inno delle nazioni),
which contains national anthems of England, France, and

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.

9 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. He was featured three times on the cover of Time
magazine, in 1926, 1934, and again in 1948. In the magazines history, he is the only conductor to have been
so honored.[41][42][43] On March 25, 1989, the United
States Postal Service issued a 25 cent postage stamp in
his honor.[44] While 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 puery,[45] it neverthleless remains a fact that
composers and others who worked with the Maestro readily acknowledged what they felt was his greatness, and audio interviews containing the praise of such luminaries as
Aaron Copland still exist. [46]
Over the past thirty years or so, however, as a new generation has appeared, there has been an increasing amount
of revisionist criticism directed at Toscanini. These critics contend that Toscanini was ultimately a detriment
to American music rather than an asset because of the
tremendous marketing of him by RCA as the greatest conductor of all time and his preference to perform
mostly older European music. According to Harvey

12

11

Sachs, Mortimer Frank, and B. H. Haggin, this criticism

can be traced to the lack of focus on Toscanini as a conductor rather than his legacy. Frank, in his 2002 book
Toscanini: The NBC Years, rejects this revisionism quite
strongly,[47] and cites the author Joseph Horowitz (author of Understanding Toscanini, aka Misunderstanding
Toscanini) as perhaps the most extreme of these critics.
Frank writes that this revisionism has unfairly inuenced
younger listeners and critics, who may have not heard as
many of Toscaninis performances as older listeners, and
as a result, Toscaninis reputation, extraordinarily high in
the years that he was active, has suered a decline. Conversely, Joseph Horowitz contends that those who keep
the Toscanini legend alive are members of a Toscanini
cult, an idea not altogether refuted by Frank, but not embraced by him, either. [Op. cit.]
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 Toscaninis antipathy toward much 20thcentury music, that perhaps Thomson had a feeling that
the conductor would never have played any of his (Thomsons) music, and that perhaps because of this, Thomson
bore a resentment against him. During Toscaninis 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. Toscanini also performed excerpts from Igor Stravinsky's Petrouchka, two of Dmitri
Shostakovich's symphonies, 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.
Another criticism leveled at Toscanini stems from the
constricted sound quality that comes from many of his
recordings, notably those made in NBCs Studio 8-H. Studio 8-H was foremost a radio and later a television studio, not a true concert hall. Its dry acoustics lacking in
much reverberation, while ideal for broadcasting, were
unsuited for symphonic concerts and opera. However, it
is widely believed that Toscanini favored it because its
close miking enabled listeners to hear every instrumental
strand in the orchestra clearly, something that the conductor strongly believed in.[48]
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.[49]
When he was young as a conductor, it was
complained of Toscanini that he held the

THE MAESTRO REVISITED

tempo and rhythm of the music rmly to

its course and that it had the mechanical
exactitude of a metronome. [...]"[50]
The Maestro: The Life Of Arturo Toscanini
(1951) by Howard Taubman
Others state (and there is some evidence from the recordings) that Toscaninis tempos, quite owing in his earlier
recordings, became stricter as he got older, although this
is not to be taken as a literally true statement. His 1953
recording of Pictures at an Exhibition, for instance, and
his 1950 La Mer, are considered masterpieces by many.

10 The Toscanini Legacy

Beginning in 1963, NBC Radio broadcast a weekly series of programs entitled Toscanini: The Man Behind The
Legend, commemorating Toscaninis 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 conductors family, as well as musicians
of the NBC Symphony, David Sarno, and noted classical musicians who had worked with the conductor, such
as Giovanni Martinelli. It spotlighted partial or complete
rebroadcasts of many of Toscaninis recordings. The program ran for at least three years, and did not feature any of
the revisionist commentary about the conductor one nds
so often today in magazines such as American Record
Guide.[51] The series was rebroadcast by PBS radio in the
late 1970s.
In 1986, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts purchased the bulk of Toscaninis 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
nding aids for the scores and sound recordings is available on the librarys website. In house nding aids are
available for other parts of the collection.
The Library also has many other collections that have
Toscanini materials in them, such as the Bruno Walter papers, the Fiorello H. La Guardia papers, and a collection
of material from Rose Bampton.

11 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 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra). The program also featured clips from two of

13
Toscaninis television concerts, in the days before they
were remastered for video and DVD.

12

Quotations

[7] 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 nal duet of the rst act of Otello: Gia nella
notte densa. cf. Conati et al., p.304
[8] Opera. June 1954, p334

Of German composer Richard Strauss, whose political behavior during World War II was arguably
very questionable: To Strauss the composer I take
o my hat; to Strauss the man I put it back on again.
The conduct of my life has been, is, and will always
be the echo and reection of my conscience.

[9] Music: Langes own, TIME Magazine, Nov 25, 1935 (to
be found in the TIME online archive)
[10] Greg Daugherty (2 May 2013). 8 Famous People Who
Missed the Lusitania. Smithsonian Magazine.
[11] Plaskin, 195.

Gentlemen, be democrats in life but aristocrats in

art.

[12] Sachs, Toscanini, 154.

Referring to the rst movement of the Eroica: To

some it is Napoleon, to some it is a philosophical
struggle. To me it is allegro con brio.

[14] Farrell, Nicholas (2005). Mussolini: a New Life. Sterling

Publishing Company, Inc. p. 238. ISBN 1-84212-123-5.

At the point where Puccini left o writing the nale

of his unnished opera, Turandot: Here Death triumphed over art. (Toscanini then left the opera
pit, the lights went up and the audience left in
silence.).[52]
Toscanini was invited in the year 1940 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.

13

See also

List of people on the cover of Time magazine

(1920s) (see January 25, 1926)

[13] Sachs, Toscanini, 211.

[15] The Double reed. International Double Reed Society.

1995. p. 65. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
[16] Live from Studio 8H: A Tribute to Toscanini. www.imdb.
com. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
[17] The Toscanini Legacy collection of sound recordings.
archives.nypl.org. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
[18] Association for the Advancement of Instrumental Music
(1993). The Instrumentalist. The Instrumentalist. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
[19] Ewen, David (1949). American composers today: a biographical and critical guide. H.W. Wilson Co. Retrieved
25 July 2012.
[20] Vinson, Bill; Casey, Ginger Quering. S.S. Brazil. Welcome Aboard Moore-McCormack Lines. Retrieved 21
May 2013.
[21] MOG.com. MOG.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
[22] RCA Victor liner notes

14

References

[1] Sachs, Harvey (1978). Toscanini. Da Capo Press. ISBN

0-306-80137-X.
[2] Tarozzi, Giuseppe (1977). Non muore la musica La vita
e l'opera di Arturo Toscanini (p.36). SUGARco Edizioni.)
[3] Nicotra, Tobia (2005). Arturo Toscanini. Kessinger Publ.
Co. ISBN 978-1-4179-0126-5.
[4] Mortimer H. Frank, Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years,
p. 149
[5] David Mason Greene, Greenes Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers, p. 819
[6] Conati, Marcello et al. (1986). Encounters with Verdi.
Cornell University Press. p. 303. ISBN 0-8014-9430-3.

[23] 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 pages 5455 of The
Toscanini Musicians Knew) quotes him (without citation)
as saying Did I play this? I must have been crazy. Marek
in 1975 (at page 234) quotes him (without citation) as saying Did I really learn and conduct such junk?"
[24] William Ashbrook (1984). Turandot and Its PosthuOpera Quarterly 2 (3): 126132.
mous Prima.
doi:10.1093/oq/2.3.126. ISSN 0736-0053. Online ISSN
1476-2870.
[25] Frank, Mortimer H. A Toscanini Odyssey, The Juilliard Journal Online, April 2002. Retrieved February 26,
2008. That archive was housed at Wave Hill, Toscaninis
Riverdale residence during World War II.

14

15 FURTHER READING

[26] Michael Kennedy (May 12, 2002). Conductor con brio.

London: Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.

[51] Explore Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend: List

View UNT Digital Library. Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved June 7, 2012.

[27] Catherine Milner (April 20, 2002). Letters detail

Toscaninis aairs. Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.

[52] Mosco Carner, Puccini, 1974; Howard Taubman,

Toscanini, 1951; quoted in Norman Lebrecht, The Book
of Musical Anecdotes

[28] However, he refused to conduct the section that Alfano

composed at the operas world premiere.

Notes

[29] Arturo Toscanini: The Complete RCA Collection: Arturo

Toscanini: Music. Amazon.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
[30] Eyewitness accounts by William Knorp, B.H. Haggin and
others

Seraphim recordings/liner notes

Arturo Toscanini Society recordings
RCA home videos

[31] Harvey Sachs, Toscanini, pp. 302303

[32] Amazon.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012.

15 Further reading

[33] Time, March 2, 1970

[34] Harvey Sachs, Toscanini
[35] Penn Special Collections - Ormandy/Usher.
brary.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-01.

Li-

[36] The First Televised Orchestra Concert.

brary.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-01.

Li-

[37] Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations. Time magazine, April

29, 1946.
[38] Toscanini: The Maestro Amazon.com 2004. Amazon.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
[39] Hymn of the Nations at the Internet Movie Database
[40] Movies: About Il Giovane Toscanini. The New York
Times.
[41] Cover story: The Perfectionist. Time magazine, April
26, 1948
[42] Cover story: Birthday of a Conductor. Time magazine,
April 2, 1934.
[43] Cover story: Toscanini. Time magazine, January 25,
1926.
[44] Scott catalog # 2411.
[45] Toscanini, The Recorded Legend, Classical Notes, Peter
Gutmann. Classicalnotes.net. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
[46] Explore Toscanini: The Man Behind the Legend: List
View UNT Digital Library. Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
[47] Klassi.net. Klassi.net. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
[48] Amazon.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved June 7, 2012.

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
Toscaninis career.)
Frank, Mortimer H., Arturo Toscanini: The NBC
Years, New York: Amadeus Press, 2002. (Complete list and analysis of Toscaninis 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 inaccuracies corrected
by Sachs in Reections on Toscanini and Frank in
Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years)
Marek, George R., Toscanini, New York:
Atheneum, 1975. ISBN 0-689-10655-6 (contains inaccuracies corrected by Sachs in Toscanini)
Marsh, R. C. Toscanini on Records Part I: High
Fidelity Magazine vol 4,1954, pp. 5558
Marsh Part II: vol 4,1955, pp. 7581
Marsh Part III: vol 4,1955, pp. 8391
Matthews, Denis, Arturo Toscanini. New York:
Hippocrene, 1982. ISBN 0-88254-657-0 (includes
discography)

[49] Howard Taubman. The Maestro: The Life Of Arturo

Toscanini.

Meyer, Donald Carl, The NBC Symphony Orchestra.

UMI Dissertation Services, 1994.

[50] Howard Taubman. The Maestro: The Life Of Arturo

Toscanini.

O'Connell, Charles, The Other Side of the Record.

New York: A. A. Knopf, 1947.

15
Sachs, Harvey, Toscanini, New York: Prima Publishing, 1995. (Reprint of standard and best biography originally published 1978.)
Harvey Sachs, Reections on Toscanini, New York:
Prima Publishing, 1993. (Series of essays on various
aspects of Toscaninis life and impact.)
Harvey Sachs, ed., The Letters of Arturo Toscanini,
New York: Knopf, 2003.
Howard Taubman, The Maestro: The Life of Arturo Toscanini, New York: Simon & Schuster,
1951 (contains inaccuracies corrected by Sachs in
Toscanini)
Teachout, Terry, Toscanini Lives, Commentary
Magazine, July/August 2002

16

External links

Arturo Toscanini at AllMusic

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

16

17

17

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

17.1

Text

Arturo Toscanini Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Toscanini?oldid=679373367 Contributors: Mav, Deb, SimonP, Camembert, Hephaestos, Stephen pomes, Ubiquity, Infrogmation, Gdarin, Stw, Ahoerstemeier, Docu, David Newton, Viajero, Pladask, Zoicon5,
Curero, Raul654, Cherniack, JorgeGG, Pigsonthewing, Wikibot, JackofOz, HaeB, Snobot, Matt Gies, TOO, DocWatson42, JillandJack,
Antandrus, Jongo, Ukexpat, Eep, D6, Ta bu shi da yu, Bender235, Kwamikagami, Art LaPella, Bill Thayer, Prsephone1674, Bobo192,
Darwinek, Linuxlad, Knucmo2, Alansohn, Santiparam, Megan1967, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Pinball22, Isnow, Emerson7, Graham87, Kbdank71, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Rogerd, Zbxgscqf, George Burgess, Gryndor, Missmarple, Hhst, Matt Deres, FlaBot, RobertG,
DrG, DrGeoduck, Neofelis Nebulosa~enwiki, Gareth E Kegg, Mrschimpf, Chobot, K2wiki, Roboto de Ajvol, YurikBot, Noclador, AVM,
Nowa, Taco325i, LodeRunner, Lockesdonkey, BOT-Superzerocool, Robyvecchio, Deeday-UK, J. Van Meter, Closedmouth, D7240, Attilios, SmackBot, Lavintzin, Iacobus, NSLE, Hmains, Jcarroll, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Kleinzach, FordPrefect42, Viva-Verdi, Colonies
Chris, Ekrenor, Stedder, Scwlong, Britmax, Grover cleveland, Tiki2099, Makemi, Savidan, GuillaumeTell, THD3, Gildir, Tim riley, StN,
Ohconfucius, Will Beback, Michael David, SashatoBot, Orbicle, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Xunvala, Vargasv, JohnI, Michael Bednarek,
Voceditenore, JHunterJ, Maksim L., Haligonian1, Violncello, Nehrams2020, Newyorkbrad, Bottesini, FairuseBot, CmdrObot, Mattbr,
AlbertSM, WeggeBot, Neelix, Cydebot, Slp1, DavidRF, Algabal, Thijs!bot, Bobblehead, Escarbot, Mentisto, AntiVandalBot, Gioto, Dr.
Blofeld, Tjmayerinsf, Poetic Decay, Jessiejames, Dunnhaupt, Dan D. Ric, Kosboot, ResurgamII, Barney Gumble, Bencherlite, LorenzoB, DerHexer, Rettetast, Brian Joseph Morgan, UnknownMan~enwiki, UBeR, Nosnibor, Markhh, Alegreen, Briancullen, McCune, Sallyrob, DJRafe, Notreallydavid, Whjayg, Prhartcom, KylieTastic, Lisagosselin, CA387, Thismightbezach, VolkovBot, Tesscass, Sjones23,
Dougie monty, DISEman, Motacilla, A4bot, Jonyungk, Nrswanson, JhsBot, DesmondW, Philipson55, Bearian, NordicSkier, Goingdummy,
Star-lists, Brandon97, SieBot, Ischtiraki, Jrpowell, Drhoehl, Miniapolis, Ikmarchini, Kumioko (renamed), Eebahgum, ImageRemovalBot,
Fusspot2, Agilordonez, Apparentslug, DragonyDC, Niceguyedc, Excirial, Sun Creator, Flensmark, Antiquary, Altufo65, DumZiBoT,
Dthomsen8, WikHead, PL290, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Damiens.rf, PhilippeHerlin, Numbo3-bot, Luckas-bot, NYIsles4, AnomieBOT, Galoubet, Citation bot, Eumolpo, ArthurBot, LilHelpa, Xqbot, , TechBot, Anna Frodesiak, Karljoos, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT,
Thehelpfulbot, D'ohBot, Sae1962, Snide-info, Whostoscanini, Thrissel, Trappist the monk, LeonardoCiampa, Fox Wilson, RjwilmsiBot,
Chemyanda, Qdiderot, The Nut, H3llBot, Demiurge1000, Ocean Shores, ClueBot NG, CactusBot, Joefromrandb, Millriv, Pronuncia,
Helpful Pixie Bot, OttawaAC, Dexbot, Horation12, Williamd3024, VIAFbot, RogersHoward, Epicgenius, Insegrievious, Ghinozzi-nissim,
Acionado49, Prof. Bill Cotte, Monkbot, Lastus, Anne F. Figy, KasparBot and Anonymous: 200

17.2

Images

File:Arturo_Toscanini_1908.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Arturo_Toscanini_1908.png License:

Public domain Contributors: From Krebbiel, Henry Edward: Chapters of Opera: being historical and critical observations and records
concerning the lyric drama in New York from its earliest days Henry Holt and Co., New York 1911 Original artist: Aime Dupont Studio,
which was a well-known New York photographic studio, see here. Accordingly the United States is this photographs place of origin.
File:Arturo_Toscanini_grave_Milan_2015.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Arturo_Toscanini_
grave_Milan_2015.jpg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Deeday-UK
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File:Toscanini5.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Toscanini5.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.18953.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.

Original artist: Bain News Service photo

File:Toscanini_caruso.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Toscanini_caruso.png License: Public domain Contributors: The Century magazine, vol. 85 http://books.google.com/books?id=DhoMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA691&dq=%22arturo+
toscanini%22&as_brr=1#PPA697,M1 Original artist: enrico Caruso
File:Toscanini_rehearsals.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Toscanini_rehearsals.jpg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Kosboot

17.3

Content license

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