Legendary Conductor Arturo Toscanini Is Focus of Exhibition at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Opening February 21

Exhibition Showcases Rare Material from Library's Toscanini Legacy

Arturo Toscanini in rehearsal, 1947. Photo by Emmerich Gara. Toscanini Legacy Collection, Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century's most important musical figures with the exhibition Arturo Toscanini: Homage to the Maestro . Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957), considered by many to be one of the greatest conductors of his era, was a major figure in establishing standards for modern orchestral and operatic performance in a celebrated career that began in 1886 and continued until 1954. Through rare recordings and unique documents, the exhibition illustrates his multifaceted persona as conductor and music collaborator, and sheds light on his personal relationships as mentor, colleague, friend, father, and grandfather. Arturo Toscanini: Homage to the Maestro will be on view in the Vincent Astor Gallery at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, from Wednesday, February 21 through Friday, May 25, 2007. Admission is free.

The exhibition features rare rehearsal and performance recordings by Toscanini at two playback stations. On display will be photographs, annotated scores, letters, and documents, many of which are unpublished and have seldom been seen. These unique documents and recordings are drawn from The Toscanini Legacy, the vast and comprehensive archive donated in 1987 by the Toscanini family to the Library's Music Division and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, as well as from other research collections of the Library. The exhibition is curated by Robert Kosovsky, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts for the Music Division, and Seth B. Winner, Sound Engineer of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.

Among the items on view is a proof copy of the score for Puccini's La Fanciulla del West , annotated during rehearsals by both Puccini and Toscanini, who conducted the opera's world premiere in 1911 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Details of their complex relationship are evident from correspondence included in the exhibition, with the sometimes insecure composer confronting an extremely confident conductor. The exhibition will include 1926 rehearsal excerpts with the La Scala Orchestra, an excerpt from the 3rd movement of Toscanini's last performance of the Bruckner 7th Symphony with the New York Philharmonic in 1935, and highlights from his final, all- Wagner concert with the NBC Symphony on April 4, 1954.

A related program series is being presented in the Library's Bruno Walter Auditorium. For information, telephone 212.642.0142 or go to the Library's website at www.nypl.org/lpaprograms.

"The Toscanini Legacy is one of the prized collections of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts," said Jacqueline Z. Davis, the Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director. "Because of the artistic standing and dominance of Arturo Toscanini during the first half of the 20th century, the archive is a key to understanding music performance practices during that period. We must acknowledge the foresight and dedication of Walter Toscanini, the son of the Maestro, for amassing and preserving this great treasure. We are deeply grateful to the Toscanini family for placing it in our library for future generations."

Arturo Toscanini: Homage to the Maestro is organized chronologically as follows: Early Years and Family, A Career of International Scope, Colleagues and Friends, American Career, Toscanini the Patriot, Twilight Years, Photographers, and Sound Recordings. A birthday card to his grandson Walfredo, written in green ink, combines the tune of "Happy Birthday" with Garibaldi's Hymn. A photograph of Toscanini beneath the covered pit in Bayreuth in 1930 reminds the viewer that he was the first non-German to conduct there.   There are two signed thank-you notes, one in Hebrew and one in English, from the orchestra members of the Palestine (now Israel) Philharmonic, which Toscanini inaugurated in 1936. In addition to the artifacts documenting Toscanini's relationship with Puccini, the exhibition includes evidence of his friendship and working relationship with Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly. The orchestral score to Kodaly's Nyári este ( Summer Evening ), which Toscanini had suggested Kodaly rework from an early composition, has numerous annotations by both composer and conductor. Over the years, Toscanini celebrated his close friendship with conductor Wilfred Pelletier and Pelletier's wife, soprano Rose Bampton, by presenting the couple with several gifts of composers' manuscripts, including a musical sketch of a piano sonata by Paul Dukas inscribed to Toscanini, and several of Toscanini's own early compositions, including Primo Bacio ( First Kiss ), a song for voice and piano, and an untitled composition for violin and four horns. On display are some of the 20th-century scores owned and studied by Toscanini that he didn't conduct, including Mahler's Symphony No. 8, Stravinsky's Firebird and The Rite of Spring , Schoenberg's Gurrelieder , and Charles Ives's Holidays symphony.

There will be two interactive kiosks. One will highlight excerpts from the 10 NBC Television concerts that were performed from 1948 to 1952. The second one will contain excerpts from his final concert of April 4, 1954 in pictures and sound, as well as several rehearsal fragments with pictures taken by the few photographers who were allowed to photograph him in action. The recorded audio documentation of the Legacy, which began in October 1926 and ends with his final concert in April 1954, contains a comprehensive overview of Toscanini in performance and rehearsal.   The rehearsal excerpts give a sense of Toscanini's methods for getting his exacting standards across to the members of the orchestra, whether by joking, yelling, clapping, stamping, or singing.   The recordings include a rehearsal from October 1926 with the La Scala Orchestra of Milan of an excerpt from the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60; the CBS Radio broadcast of March 29, 1936 with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2: Danse Générale ; the NBC Radio broadcast of April 4, 1943 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra of Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever , arranged by Toscanini; and, from the concert of February 19, 1945 with   pianist Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall, the 4th movement of   Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83. All these audio examples have been digitally restored for this exhibition.

About Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was born in Parma, Italy, on March 25, 1867 and died in Riverdale, New York, on January 16, 1957.   Many regarded him as the world's greatest conductor. In addition, Toscanini's anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi stance during World War II distinguished him as a symbol of freedom and humanity.

He began his musical career as a cellist. Toscanini made his conducting debut in Rio de Janeiro in 1886, when he was unexpectedly called upon to substitute for the regular conductor, and conducted Verdi's Aida from memory. He later led the world premieres of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1892) and Zazà (1900) and of Puccini's La Bohème (1896), La Fanciulla del West (1911), and Turandot (1926); the Italian premiere of Wagner's Götterdämmerung (1895); and La Scala's first production of Beethoven's Fidelio   (1927), among many other noted works.

His repertoire was extensive and international in scope.   In 1898, Toscanini was appointed musical director of the Teatro alla Scala. In 1908, he was appointed the principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, where he stayed until 1915. He began conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1926 and was its Principal Conductor from 1928 to 1936.   He later became the musical director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937 to 1954), a "radio symphony orchestra" created expressly for him. Toscanini's other important engagements included the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1935, 1937-1939), the Bayreuth Festival, where he was the first non-German conductor (1930, 1931), the Vienna Philharmonic (1933, and at the Salzburg Festival 1934-1937), and the Lucerne Festival (1938, 1939).   He also worked with many famous performers, including Jussi Björling, Emanuel Feuermann, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz (his son-in-law), Alexander Kipnis, Zinka Milanov, Jan Peerce, and William Primrose.

About The Toscanini Legacy
The Toscanini Legacy, donated by the Toscanini family to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in 1987, is the invaluable and extensive personal archive of Arturo Toscanini. It comprises recordings and documents, including annotated scores, letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, programs, and posters. Materials as diverse as Toscanini's batons, his personal library, and portraits of the Maestro are also included. The recorded material comprises over 6,000 hours of recordings on disc, tape, and film, many of them unpublished; unreleased tapes of rehearsals and broadcasts; conversations and interviews with Toscanini and his colleagues; and mint-condition copies of test pressings and commercially released performances recorded from 1920 to 1954. The Legacy also contains an almost complete run of the radio series Toscanini, the Man Behind the Legend (NBC Radio, 1963-1967), which broadcast commercial recordings, rehearsal excerpts, interviews with colleagues of the Maestro, and program features highlighting various stages of his career. The Collection contains many of the original unedited interviews before they were condensed for intermission features and represents an important oral history of the career and personality of Arturo Toscanini. Preservation of The Toscanini Legacy at the Library for the Performing Arts started in 1988, and is still ongoing. To date, all known rehearsals, concerts, and broadcasts in the Legacy have been preserved and are available for listening in the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, located on the third floor of the Library for the Performing Arts.

Among the rarest items in the archive are the Maestro's personal notebook in which he wrote his interpretation of Act 1 of Wagner's Die Walküre ; first editions of Beethoven symphonies, Mozart operas, and Alceste by Gluck; personally annotated scores, including La Mer by Debussy, and Beethoven's 9th Symphony; printed scores inscribed to the Maestro by Debussy, Strauss, Puccini, and Victor Herbert; and letters written to Toscanini by Strauss, Pizzetti, Gatti-Casazza, and Wagner's daughters. Other highlights include Toscanini's first contract as artistic director at La Scala and a score of Stravinsky's Petrouchka thought to have been given to Toscanini by Puccini.

About The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses the world's most extensive combination of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. Its divisions are the Circulating Collections, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Music Division, Billy Rose Theatre Division, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound. The materials in its collections are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts - whether professional or amateur - the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters, and photographs.

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers - the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library - and 86 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The New York Public Library serves over 15 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 21 million users internationally, who access collections and services through its website, www.nypl.org.

Arturo Toscanini: Homage to the Maestro is on view from February 21 through May 25, 2007 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza.   Exhibition hours are: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from noon to 6:00 p.m.; Thursday from noon to 8:00 p.m.; closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays. Admission is free. For exhibition information, telephone 212.870.1630 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.

###

Contact: Rima Corben at 212.592.7700 or rcorben@nypl.org

rc:   2.12.07: nypl010