Arturo Toscanini was one of the great virtuoso conductors of the first half of the 20th century. His musical ear and phenomenal memory let him continue performing well into his 80s, despite failing eyesight.
Toscanini was born on March 25, 1867, the sickly child of poor, working-class parents in Parma, Italy. At the age of nine, Toscanini was sent to boarding school at the Parma Conservatory of Music. Although he studied cello and composition at the conservatory, he spent hours scrutinising and memorising musical scores—study that was to pay dividends later in life.
Toscanini’s knowledge and dedication led to an unexpected first conducting experience in 1886. He was in Rio de Janeiro as principal cellist with an Italian touring company. The singers refused to perform under an incompetent conductor, and the 19-year-old Toscanini was called to conduct. He gave a brilliant performance of Verdi’s Aida entirely from memory.
As a result, Toscanini was engaged to conduct Catalini’s new opera, Edmea, and his conducting career was soon well established. In 1892, he gave the premiere of Leoncavallo’s opera, / Pagliacci, in Milan. In his 1895-96 season at Turin, he conducted the first Italian performance of Wagner’s Gotterddmmerung, and the premier of Puccini’s La boheme.
In 1898, a call came from La Scala, in Milan, Italy. La Scala was at a low point, with undisciplined singing and poor playing marring the operatic productions. Toscanini made the singers stick to the score, refused to allow encores that disrupted the drama, and greatly improved the quality of the orchestral playing.
He also had the good fortune to work with two magnificent singers—the Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin, and the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso—and within a few years had returned La Scala to the pinnacle of world opera.
Toscanini was renowned for his attention to details, such as the intensity of the house lights, and asked ladies to remove their hats during performances. In 1902 he caused an uproar when he refused to allow an encore in one of Verdi’s operas. As a result, he stormed out of La Scala and spent much of the next four seasons in Buenos Aires.
As much of Europe became prey to Fascism in the 1930s, Toscanini gradually ceased to conduct in Italy, Germany and Austria. This ended his association with Germany’s Bayreuth festival and Austria’s Salzburg Festival, where he had conducted Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Verdi’s Falstaff.
Toscanini now concentrated exclusively on the U.S. until the end of World War II. He had already enjoyed great success at the Metropolitan Opera in New York between 1908 and 1915, and since 1928 had spent much time there as principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Such was his fame that in 1937 the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) created an orchestra of top players especially for him (the NBC Symphony Orchestra). His recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies with this orchestra became legendary.
Although Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Verdi, and Wagner made up his core repertoire, Toscanini was also well known for his performances of Mozart and Richard Strauss among others, and for his encouragement of the American composer Samuel Barber. He died in New York just before his 90th birthday, on January 16, 1957.
Toscanini became the first modern maestro: his dominating character, masterful conducting, and personal charisma extracted electrifying performances from his orchestras, creating a unique sound that, in many ways, revolutionised orchestral music.
Michael Lamkin
SEE ALSO:
OPERA; ORCHESTRAL MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Haggin, B. H. Conversations with Arturo Toscanini: Contemporary Recollections of the Maestro (New York: Da Capo Press, 1989); Sachs, Harvey. Toscanini (London: Robson, 1989).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7; Brahms: Symphonies; Debussy: La mer, Puccini: La boheme; Verdi: Otello.