Understanding Toscanini: A Social History of American Concert LifeAs America's symbol of Great Music, Arturo Toscanini and the "masterpieces" he served were regarded with religious awe. As a celebrity personality, he was heralded for everything from his unwavering stance against Hitler and Mussolini and his cataclysmic tantrums, to his "democratic" penchants for television wrestling and soup for dinner. During his years with the Metropolitan Opera (1908-15) and the New York Philharmonic (1926-36) he was regularly proclaimed the "world's greatest conductor ." And with the NBC Symphony (1937-54), created for him by RCA's David Sarnoff, he became the beneficiary of a voracious multimedia promotional apparatus that spread Toscanini madness nationwide. According to Life, he was as well-known as Joe Dimaggio; Time twice put him on its cover; and the New York Herald Tribune attributed Toscanini's fame to simple recognition of his unique "greatness." In this boldly conceived and superbly realized study, Joseph Horowitz reveals how and why Toscanini became the object of unparalleled veneration in the United States. Combining biography, cultural history, and music criticism, Horowitz explores the cultural and commercial mechanisms that created America's Toscanini cult and fostered, in turn, a Eurocentric, anachronistic new audience for old music. |
Contents
The Metropolitan Opera 190815 | 45 |
Interlude 191725 | 78 |
The New York Philharmonic 192629 | 93 |
The New York Philharmonic 192936 | 111 |
The NBC Symphony 193745 | 150 |
The National Context I | 189 |
The National Context II | 224 |
The NBC Symphony 194554 | 270 |
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Adorno American music American orchestras Antek artistic Arturo Toscanini audience ballyhoo Barnum baton Bayreuth Beethoven Boston Brahms broadcast canini Carnegie Hall Caruso celebrity Chicago classical composers concert conducted conductor Copland Damrosch David Sarnoff Downes's Europe European Falstaff Fidelio Furtwängler George Marek German Haggin hear heard Herald Tribune Horowitz Howard Taubman included interpretation Italian Italy Jenny Judson Klemperer Krehbiel La Scala later Lawrence Gilman less listeners Maestro Mahler Meistersinger Mengelberg Metropolitan Opera Milan Modern Music monic music appreciation music critic musicians NBC Symphony NBC's never O'Connell Old World Olin Downes Overture Pavarotti performance Philhar Philharmonic's phonograph phony pianist piano played popular quote radio recordings rehearsal repertoire Sachs Salzburg Scala score season seemed singers singing sound Stokowski studio Symphony Orchestra Szell Taubman television tempo theater Theodore Thomas tion Toscanini cult tour Tristan Verdi Verdi's Victor Vienna Virgil Thomson Wagner Walter Wilhelm Furtwängler wrote York Philharmonic