Classical Music / Conductor's Datebook: March 25 Arturo Toscanini, Conductor, Uncompromising Perfectionist
Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957), born March 25, was an Italian conductor and considered one of the greatest musical interpreters of all time. This brilliant musician nicknamed "old man" continued conducting into his nineties, ever intense and dedicated to his art.
Acclaimed classical music interpreter of the late 19th and 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory.
At various times, he was 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 first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937-54), that led to his becoming a household name especially in the United States, through his radio and television broadcasts and many more recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire.
Toscanini was renowned for his accomplishments as conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the NBC Symphony, which he led for 17 years. He was a champion of Richard Wagner's music, whose operas he introduced to his Italian countrymen at La Scala. The operas of Giacomo Puccini also elicited his devotion.
Maestro Toscanini died on January 16, 1957.
Suggested Reading:
Toscanini, The Recorded Legend. Classical Notes. Peter Gutmann. Accessed March 25, 2013.
Trivia:
The 25th of March is also the birthday of Bela Bartok, famous Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist. Toscanini is 14 years older than Bartok.
Image credit:
Arturo Toscanini.Wikipedia / Public Domain
Arturo Toscanini.Wikipedia / Public Domain
Video Credit:
Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 "Choral" - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Toscanini (3 April 1948). Telecast: 3 April, 1948 at NBC Studio 8-H, New York City. YouTube, uploaded by 1Furtwangler. Accessed March 25, 2017.
Resources:
(c) March 29, 2013. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 "Choral" - NBC Symphony Orchestra, Toscanini (3 April 1948). Telecast: 3 April, 1948 at NBC Studio 8-H, New York City. YouTube, uploaded by 1Furtwangler. Accessed March 25, 2017.
Resources:
- Arturo Toscanini. NPR.org/artists/89059349/arturo-toscanini. Accessed March 29, 2013
- Arturo Toscanini. www.Biography.com. Accessed March 25, 2017.
- Sadie, Stanley, Ed. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan, 1994.
(c) March 29, 2013. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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