The Sun and the New York herald., 1920-07-11
Notables Under the Spell
Of Artistic Temperament

TN charity for idiosyncratic persons and
their mild attacks Of insanity observers
4 Of human nature have characterized
them with the adjective temperamentaL But
they forget that temper" forms the root Of
this word Ben Jonson trare old Benz knew
the manners Of this class better when he
wrote Every Man in His Humor," and evil
IDENTIFY painted By intention their bad humor
However, the responsibility ofS genius
that has been accepted by the world as
trait of the irritable race has recently re-
ceived Endorsement from psychologist Of
renown in Italy, Prof Pastor. who testified
for the defence In a suit brought 10 recover
damages from Arturo Toscanini the world
famous. orchestral conductor. which resulted
in his acquittal.
Tells of Sublime Frenzy.
Toscanini was charged with assauting a
violinist during a rehearsal Of Beethoyen's
Ninth Symphony at an opera house in
Turin. The professor testified that he was
present at the occurrence and that what
really happened was that Toscanini struck
out nightly, but involuntarily, with his
baton, causing the vioIinist's bow to snap
and rebound into mis- eye. The affair was
entirely accidental.
The professor was permitted to state that
he had made study Of Toscanini and had
found that on great occasions this prince Of
conductors becomes so possessed by sub
lime frenzy that his normal personality for
RnT,r, La fran hty
genius, Is outside Of himself, and his inhibi-
tory nerves are completely paralyzed. Tn
der the power of inspiration he is prey to
the tyranny Of art; stupendous words and
deeda break forth with volcanic force. and
the faculty of Distinguishing good from evil is
subordinated to the ebb and flow Of sensi-
biIity. These are tremendous
Toscanini, as Is well known, began his
career along with Gatti-Caszazza, and to-
gether these young men In a small lyric
theatre Of Italy worked out problems and
undertook immense musical events Their
conjoiped labors were so successful that
both were summoned to wider fields in their
own country, and when Gatti came to New
York ne brought Arturo with him. 1t seemed
as IL Gatti could not relinquish the con-
nection.
And in America the conductor repeated
his marvels of Europe. Wagner had new
lease under his baton. and it seemed to many
who had crowded the opera house when
the Damrosches conducted his works that
they were hearing "Meistersinger" and Iris
tan" for the first time, Toscanini's American
fame grew with every appearance.
Papi and Bodansky.
Papi and Bodansky are temperamental in
truth, but they hold themselves well in hand
and at least do not permit the excitement
under which they labor during perform
ances to dominate the day after The Sec
ond named gives fair impression of Tos-
canini as he directs; he is as picturesque
and the orchestra obeys him as implicitly.
Without indulging in many gestures or
contortions nevertheless Bodansky is all one
liquid gesture from the tips of his slender
fingers to his toes. He Is an animated bar
of music, or so he must seem to a heated
musical fancy. and the conductor conveys
this effect really with a paucity of move
ment. Papi has more.
But Of the conductors of the last Metro