Arturo Toscanini: Biography and Life Work
Arturo Toscanini was a notable Conductor. The story of Arturo Toscanini began on March 25, 1867 in Parma, Italy. The legacy of Arturo Toscanini continues today, following their passing on January 16, 1957 in New York City, U.S..
Arturo Toscanini 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 . 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.
Legacy and Personal Influence
Personally, Arturo Toscanini was married to Carla de Martini.
Philosophical Views and Reflections
Charles O'Connell , who produced many of Toscanini's early NBC Symphony recordings, stated that RCA Victor decided to record the 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 continued to be held in Studio 8-H as late as June 1950, probably because of alterations to the studio beginning in 1939, including installation of an acoustical shell in 1941 at the insistence of Leopold Stokowski before he temporarily replaced Toscanini as principal conductor of the NBC Symphony in the fall of 1941. 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.
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.