num_pages: 944
description: It may be difficult to imagine today but Arturo Toscaninirecognized widely as the most celebrated conductor of the twentieth centurywas once one of the most famous people in the world. Like Einstein in science or Picasso in art Toscanini (18671957) transcended his own field becoming a figure of such renown that it was often impossible not to see some mention of the maestro in the daily headlines.Acclaimed music historian Harvey Sachs has long been fascinated with Toscaninis extraordinary story. Drawn not only to his illustrious sixty-eight-year career but also to his countless expressions of political courage in an age of tyrants and to a private existence torn between love of family and erotic restlessness Sachs produced a biography of Toscanini in 1978. Yet as archives continued to open and Sachs was able to interview an ever-expanding list of relatives and associates he came to realize that this remarkable life demanded a completely new work and the result is Toscaninian utterly absorbing story of a man who was incapable of separating his spectacular career from the call of his conscience.Famed for his fierce dedication but also for his explosive temper Toscanini conducted the world premieres of many Italian operas including Pagliacci La Boheme and Turandot as well as the Italian premieres of works by Wagner Brahms Tchaikovsky and Debussy. In time as Sachs chronicles he would dominate not only La Scala in his native Italy but also the Metropolitan Opera the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. He also collaborated with dozens of star singers among them Enrico Caruso and Feodor Chaliapin as well as the great sopranos Rosina Storchio Geraldine Farrar and Lotte Lehmann with whom he had affairs.While this consuming passion constantly blurred the distinction between professional and personal it did forge within him a steadfast opposition to totalitarianism and a personal bravery that would make him a model for artists of conscience. As early as 1922 Toscanini refused to allow his La Scala orchestra to play the Fascist anthem Giovinezza even when threatened by Mussolinis goons. And when tens of thousands of desperate Jewish refugees poured into Palestine in the late 1930s he journeyed there at his own expense to establish an orchestra comprised of refugee musicians and his travels were followed like that of a king.Thanks to unprecedented access to family archives Toscanini becomes not only the definitive biography of the conductor but a work that soars in its exploration of musical genius and moral conscience taking its place among the great musical biographies of our time.
language: English
title: Toscanini: Musician of Conscience
publisher: Liveright