'Toscanini: Musician of Conscience' is a feast of music, culture, politics

Jul 03, 2017 1061

BY: Jonathan Rosenberg

“When you see that man conduct, you feel that there is only one thing for you to do: take your baton, break it in pieces, and never conduct again.” This assessment of Arturo Toscanini, offered by the esteemed composer and distinguished conductor Richard Strauss, was hardly unusual, for Toscanini routinely mesmerized his fellow musicians.

Critics also regularly celebrated Toscanini as one of the world’s most gifted and consequential artists. Even Albert Einstein weighed in, lauding the Italian conductor as “a man of the greatest dignity.” In a letter to Toscanini in 1936, the renowned scientist explained to the musician what he meant to him. “I admire and honor you,” he wrote, calling Toscanini an “unmatchable interpreter” of music and a determined opponent of “the Fascist criminals.”

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SOURCE: https://www.csmonitor.com

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