18 Friday, December 29, 1918

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

.

'Toscanini' Biography Traces Maestro's Fight Against Fascists

By MARGUERITE
KOZENN CHAJES

Harvey Sachs, 32, born in
Cleveland, is a musician liv-
ing in Milan, Italy. In addi-
tion to conducting various
orchestras, he is also writ-
ing documentaries for radio
stations about Arturo Tos-
canini. Lippincott of New
York just published a biog-
raphy under the title "Tos-
canini," on which Sachs had
worked for 17 years.
Sachs traveled to many
countries, where he ob-
tained exclusive interviews
with members of Tosca-
nini's family, his friends
and associates.
The book is fascinating,
interesting for musicians as
well as non-musicians and
meticulously describes the
Italian Maestro, who until
his death at the age of 90, in
1957, was the uncontested,
most revered and highest
- paid conductor in the world.
Toscanini was a unique
personality. He was very
sensitive, impetuous,
often obstinate and un-
compromising, but he
also was a champion for
political rights and free-
dom and an extremely
generous contributor to
worthwhile causes.
Toscanini met Mussolini,
when the latter still advo-
cated a socialist policy. Tos-
canini. joined the party, at-
tracted by the idea that it
would alleviate and change
the sad economic situation
of the country and its citi-
zens. In 1920, the Fascists
staged their march on
:Rome. The Maestro, who
had expected the forced ab-
dication of the king, as Mus-
solini had always promised,
was upset and disappointed.
He refused to conduct the
Fascist anthem and his dif-
ferences with the govern-
ment were growing. How-
'aver his artistic value was
so great, that nobody dared
to come out openly against
him.
But his friends did not
fare so well. One of them,
for 26 years the director
f the Milan Conservat-
y, learned about his,in-
ant dismissal and threw
.mself out the window.
oscanini angrily wired
le Minister of Educa-
ion: "This suicide will
veigh upon your con-
;cience forever!"
At the funeral he detected
a large wreath from the
Ministry of Education; he
grabbed it and threw it
away! When a professor,
also guilty for the dismissal,
started a eulogy, Toscanini
snatched away the notes
and screamed: "No, you will
not speak!"
Toscanini was rigid with
his family, his friends and
co-workers. He threw ba-

tons, music scores or even
chairs.
For many years he was
the conductor of the New
York Philharmonic or-
chestra. In 1932, his fee was
$110,000.

TOSCANINI

The two composers Tos-
canini loved best and per-
formed most were Wagner
and Verdi. As a young man
his major dream was to play
Wagner.
In 1929, his dream
materialized when he
conducted at the
Wagner festival in
Bayreuth. He refused a
fee and even the ex-
penses, since he consid-
ered it "to be like the ful-
fillment of a religious
vow."
In 1931, at_the age of 64,
he wanted to present two
concerts with exclusive
works by a dear friend in
Bologna. Again he declined
any fee!
A shameful incident took
place prior to the first con-
cert: two Fascist ministers
had promised to attend and
Toscanini was asked to open
the program with the Fas-
cisty hymn. He refused! In
the evening, when he ar-
rived for the concert, Fascist
hooligans surrounded his
car and hit him in the face
when he got out. The chauf-
feur shoved him back into
the car and returned to the
hotel. The public was told
the Maestro had become ill.
Within hours the entire
city, the country and,
through international
wires, the world knew what
had happened. The Meastro
had sustained cuts on his
face and neck, but fortu-
nately he was not seriously
hurt. However the family
was advised to leave
Bologna at once. They left at
midnight for Milan, where
their passports were taken
away.
Letters and telegrams
of protest came in from
all over the world. Serge
Koussevitsky cancelled
his concerts at "La Scala"
and to its directors he
wrote: "Maestro Tosca-
nini does not belong only
to Italy but to the whole
world!"

Ossip Gabrilowitsch and
his wife Clara, Mark
Twain's daughter, were va-
cationing in Zurich. They
immediately came to Milan
and later Gabrilowitsch
wrote: "He (Toscanini)
greeted us most cordially
and seemed spontaneously
inclined to describe the
entire Bologna experience.
He did so with undisguised
indignation against the
Fascist factions . . . in the
expression of his feelings,
the great artist before us
also divulged the great man
. . . 'Truth,' he said: 'truth
we must have at any price,
and also freedom of speech,
even if that price should be
death. I have said to our
Fascists time and again:
you can kill me, if you wish,
but as long as I am living I
shall say what I think!' "
In the summer of 1931 he
conducted at the Bayreuth
Wagner festival, again
without any remuneration.
He liked Winifred
Wagner, the widow of
Wagner's son Siegfried
and at that time she was
the director of the festi-
val. She was born in
England and was fasci-
nated with the Nazis'
ideologies and their
"fuehrer" Hitler. Tosca-
nini discussed his diSlike
for Nazidom with her, but
she was firm in her belief
then and even still today,
that Hitler was the ideal
leader for Germany.
In 1932 the German vio-
linist Adolf Busch had
recommended the Russian
pianist Vladimir Horowitz
to the Maestro. His daugh-
ter Wanda said in an inter-
view that "Horowitz was al-
ready very famous and
known throughout the
world; when he had to audi-
tion for Papa, he became
frightened. Papa was very
gentle . . . listened and said,
`That's very good. Now I
must ask you to leave be-
cause I have a lot of work.
See you at the dress rehear-
sal.' " In 1933 Wanda Tos-
canini became engaged to
Horowitz.
The time was drawing
nearer to the next Bayreuth
festival; in February Tosca-
nini (in absentia) was made
an honorary citizen of
Bayreuth.
In March, the Busch
brothers, leading German
musicians, who were anti-
Nazi and also had Jewish
sons-in-law, one of them
pianist Rudolf Serkin, had
left Germany; Bruno Wal-
ter also fled as had Klem-
perer and many other lead-
ing musicians and per-
sonalities.
-
Through the news
media one learned that
Toscanini was reconsid-
ering his plan to conduct

,

in Bayreuth. He received
a letter from Gab-
rilowitsch with these
concluding phrases:
"Under those conditions,
will you, Arturo Tosca-
nini, the world's most il-
lustrious artist, lend the
glamor of your interna-
tional fame to the
Bayreuth festival? A de-
cisive protest from you at
this time would amount
to a great historic fact.
The world has a right to
expect this noble gesture
from you!"
A cable against the
boycott of Jewish musicians
and the Nazi regime was
sent to Hitler from New
York. Toscanini's name
headed the list of the protes-
ters, among them Kous-
sevitsky, Gabrilowitsch,
Reiner, Damrosch and
many others. The following
day all the U.S. newspapers
published the text and when
Toscanini came out on the
stage of Carnegie Hall to
conduct a concert, he was
greeted by endless ovations!
Several days later the Be-
rlin radio station transmit-
ted the following order: "Ac-
cording to reports, several
conductors and musicians
in the U.S.A. . . . Arturo
Toscanini and others have
lodged a complaint with the
Chancellor (Hitler) because
of the rejection of certain
Jewish and Marxist fellow
musicians in Germany . . . I
direct that the compositions
and records of the
aforementioned gentlemen
shall no longer find a place
on the programs of German
broadcasters and also that
no musical performance in
which they have a part,
shall be received from con-
cert halls or other broad-
casting sources."
The American papers also
reported that Winifred
Wagner had dined with Hit-
ler that very same evening.
She had admired Hitler for
a long time and his "love for
Wagner's music was
matched by his admiration
for Wagner's anti-Semitic
and other racial writings."

,

Hitler, most likely to
please Winifred Wagner,
wired Toscanini and
asked him to reconsider
"as chancellor of
Germany he would be
especially happy to per-
sonally greet the Maestro
in Bayreuth."

Toscanini answered Hit-
ler in a rather indecisive
way; it must have been ex-
tremely difficult for him to
give up Bayreuth. He was
eager to conduct Wagner in
Bayreuth. It was a dream
about to become reality, but
he reconsidered his promise
and refused to perform be-
cause of the mistreatment of
the Jews and the rise of
Nazism. Toscanini's answer
to Hitler was indecisive, but
he had no intention of per-
forming for the Nazis.
Bronislav
Violinist
Huberman, like all the
other Jewish musicians,
was grateful to the Maestro
for ree,,.i•rur in _conduct

Bayreuth.
In December 1933,
Wanda Toscanini married
Horowitz. She remembered
that her father "warned her
. . . you know very well that
life with an artist is very dif-
ficult."

In 1935 during his stay in
New York, Toscanini re-
ceived a note from Huber-
man, who wanted to "dis-
cuss a constructive idea in
the artistic field." He was
"obsessed" by a plan to
found a first class orchestra
in Palestine, of Jewish
musicians who had fled
from Central European
countries. He told the Maes-
tro about the financial sup-
port promised by American
Jews and he asked whether
the Maestro would conduct
the "inaugural concerts."
"It would mean a declara-
tion of solidarity with the
victims of persecution and it
would be easier to obtain fi-
nancial support for the or-
chestra; it would be the
greatest encouragement!"
Toscanini consented
enthusiastically and de-
clined any fee or even the
refund of his expenses.
The news about Tosca-
nini's acceptance became
known at once and Al-
bert Einstein was the first
to write from Princeton:
"Honored Master! I feel
the necessity of telling
you for once how much I
admire and honor you.
You are not only the un-
matchable interpreter of
the world's musical liter-
ature, whose forms de-

MRS. CHAJES

serve the highest admira-
tion ... in the fight
against the Fascist crim-
inals too, you have shown
yourself to be a man of
greatest dignity. I also
feel most deeply thank-
ful, because you have
given the soon-to-be
founded Palestine Or-
chestra a push forward of
inestimable significance.
The fact that such a con-
temporary exists cancels
many of the delusions
one must continually ex-
perience from the species •
minorum gentium! With
love and greatest respect,
cordial greetings from
your Albert Einstein."
Einstein became the hon-
orary president of the or-
chestra's American com-
mittee and within a short
period funds necessary for
the first three years were
secured.
and his wife
_

came to Palestine and
stayed for a month. "There
was unbelievable excite-
ment throughout the coun-
try and Mme. Toscanini
wrote her daughter: "On the
day of our arrival Papa had
his first rehearsal and is
satisfied with the orchestra.
They put us in a lovely little
villa on the outskirts of the
town. As far as beauty and
comfort go, it is everything
one can desire. We have at
our disposal a car, a valP 4-
and cook-maid. We i
treated as if we were ro
alty."
Concerts were given in
Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and
Haifa. "Everywhere and
always the ecstasy and
gratitude were the same."
The Maestro was "very anx-
ious to see Palestine, its bi-
blical and other historic
sites, its potash plants and
agricultural settlements
and the daily life of its
people.
Once when Toscanini
and Huberman were on
a _sight seeing trip, a
storm forced them to
drive into the nearest ag- ,
ricultural village, called
Ramoth Hashavim.
Years later one of its
leaders recalled: "Nearly
'all of these farmers were
professors, doctors,
lawyers, who became ag-
riculturalists in Palestine
after the destruction of
their existence in Ger-
many. All these people
had been raised in the
world of German culture;
they were all music lov-
ers and were full of- love
and gratitude for Tosca-
nini and Huberman, who
had brought such unex-
pected musical events to
their new country ... the
village dedicated a piece
of land to Toscanini."

or

The concerts were re-
peated also in Cairo and
Alexandria; before leaving
Palestine Toscanini told
Huberman: "I am so sad to
be leaving this country, this
people, its public, its or-
chestra. I must come back —
and I shall be back!"
year later he returned
to Palestine and again pre-
sented concerts in the lead-
ing cities. On his programs
were also the preludes to
Acts I and III from the opera
"Lohengrin" by Wagner. "It
has been the only music by
Wagner (played in Israel)
either before or after
creation of the state of
rael." The Toscaninis
turned" of course to
RamOth Hashavim and
wept when they were pre-
sented with the first
oranges from their "piece of
land."
From 1937 until 1954
millions of Americans could
listen to Toscanini's NBC
broadcasts and one has to
acknowledge gratefully the
output of his unique record-
ings.
He died of a cerebral
thrombosis on Jan. 16,
1957. The world, which was
richer because he had lived
and created great music,
remained bereaved because
; had lost a genius!