Toscanini, Arturo

(1867–1957)

   One of the greatest orchestral conductors of modern times, Toscanini was born in Parma, where he studied at the conservatory. After a distinguished early career as a musician and conductor, he became the first director of Milan’s La Scala Theater in 1898. Much of his subsequent career was spent in the United States as the director of New York’s finest orchestras. Between 1937 and 1954, he was the director of the NBC symphony orchestra, which was dissolved upon his retirement in 1954. Famously choleric with wayward musicians, Toscanini preached and practiced a policy of strict fidelity to the original musical scores. His repertoire included Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Beethoven, and Brahms, but few post-1918 works. Toscanini’s relationship with the Fascist regime was a mixed one. He actually ran as a candidate for the Partito Nazionale Fascista/National Fascist Party (PNF) in the 1919 elections, but quickly lost sympathy with the regime. In May 1931, he refused to play the Fascist hymn Giovinezza as the prelude to a concert in Bologna and was brutally beaten by the blackshirts. Toscanini immigrated to the United States following this episode and only returned in 1956. He died the following year.