Italy 25.3.1967
Arturo Toscanini was born on March 25, 1867 in Parma. He died on January 16, 1957 in New York. 2017 is the 150th anniversary of his birth and the 60th anniversary of his death.
1895 Toscanini got a job in Turin and was allowed to conduct the first performance of Puccini’s opera “La Bohème” in 1896. In 1898 he went to La Scala in Milan and in 1908 to the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has conducted many concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and was conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1926. Until 1937, he influenced the Salzburg Festival by conducting essential concerts and opera productions. After his emigrating to the USA he led the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with whom he recorded – among others – all nine Beethoven symphonies. In 1946 he conducted the opening concert of the rebuilt La Scala. Toscanini is generally considered one of the greatest orchestra conductors of his time and was praised especially for his interpretations of works by Beethoven and Verdi.
The video shows the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini with a performance of the overture to Verdi’s opera “La forza del Destino”. The orchestra was established specifically for Toscanini.