Word: toscanini
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When Arturo Toscanini made his farewell public appearance with the NBC Symphony two months ago. the world of music sighed with regret. Toscanini himself was so moved that, incredibly, he fumbled an excerpt from Tannhäuser and, for about a minute, lost his place (TIME, April 12). Had the 87-year-old maestro finally reached the end of the score? Last week Toscanini was again conducting the NBC orchestra-in two recording sessions to polish up rough spots in earlier tapings of Verdi operas. The maestro was still in supreme form...
...called, "Duetto!" Soprano Herva Nelli and Tenor Jan Peerce began singing the last-act duet from Un Ballo in Maschera. Here & there the maestro stopped to shout a fiery "Vergogna!" or "Madonna mia!" and the group diligently began again. Finally, everybody managed to get through the duet according to Toscanini's demands, and the piece was recorded...
...favorite cherry pastilles. Titian-haired Soprano Nelli was all set for her first solo, Ritorna Vincitor!, from Aïda. The maestro conducted vigorously. Whispered a technician in the control booth: "What a man! Look at that beat." With the run-through and actual recording completed, the playback started. Toscanini listened intently, poring over the score, at times reconducting the music. In his high-collared rehearsal jacket, he looked like a priest. Then suddenly, the fireworks began. Wrathfully, he turned to Soprano Nelli, scolding and pointing at his score. She had, Toscanini argued, sung a B instead...
Sorrow & Pleasure. A few moments later, Nelli began her toughest assignment, Aïda's great aria from the Nile Scene. Toscanini demanded that she sing a long, difficult phrase in one breath. "I know," he had said earlier, "there is not a soprano today who does it. But you do it." He also insisted on his own interpretation of anguish in the phrase O patria mia, o patria mia. He sang it through himself, beating his chest. Nelli tried it. No, no, said the maestro, and launched into the phrase again, leaning toward her, hugging his own shoulders...
...Mass of Life, performed by the Royal Philharmonic, with choir and soloists under Sir Thomas Beecham (Columbia) ; Mozart's Concerto in A Major, played by Clifford Curzon with the London Symphony under Josef Krips (London); Mozart's Symphony No. 40, played by the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini (Victor...