146. “Music and Musicians,” Boston Daily Globe, November 6, 1921.
147. “Strauss Back After 16 Years’ Absence,” Ibid., November 14, 1921.
148. “Pittsburgh Hails Richard Strauss,” Musical America (November 26, 1921): 45; “Strauss Lauded in Baltimore Recital,” Ibid. (November 19, 1921): 53; Indianapolis Hails Strauss Programs,” Ibid. (December 10, 1921): 40; “Strauss Lauded in Milwaukee Program,” Ibid. (December 24, 1921): 39; “Strauss in Concert Program Shares Interest with St. Louis Symphony,” Ibid. (December 10, 1921): 2.
149. “Strauss Welcomed in Philadelphia,” Musical America (November 12, 1921): 39.
150. “Strauss Accorded Honors in Detroit,” Ibid. (November 19, 1921): 8.
151. “Richard Strauss Has Better Luck in Second Visit,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 19, 1921. Note “Richard Strauss Here; Sees Loop as Music Theme,” Chicago Daily Tribune, November 6, 1921.
152. “Second Strauss Concert in Chicago Attracts Much Larger Audience,” Musical Courier (December 29, 1921): 5. Note “Strauss Leads Chicago Symphony in Stirring Program of His Own Works,” Musical America (December 31, 1921): 24.
153. “Strauss Receives Ovation in Adieu,” Musical America (January 7, 1922): 4. Note “Farewell to Dr. Strauss,” New York Times, January 8, 1922.
154. “Strauss Receives Ovation in Adieu,” Musical America (January 7, 1922): 4. Later, he described the orchestras of Philadelphia and Chicago as “splendid.” “Bearing the Richard in His Den,” Musical Courier (August 10, 1922): 5.
155. “Richard Strauss,” Musical America (November 5, 1921): 24. The press reported that Strauss earned $50,000 during the trip. Among those who saw him off were local representatives of the federal government, who collected $8,000 in income tax. “Strauss Closes Second Tour Here,” New York Times, January 2, 1922.
156. “Siegfried Wagner Here for $200,000,” New York Times, January 28, 1924.
157. “Chicago Tenders Siegfried Wagner a Testimonial Reception and Luncheon,” Musical Courier (February 28, 1924): 34.
158. “To the Musicians of America!,” Musical Courier (January 18, 1923): 37. Note “Fund to Aid European Musicians,” Music Trade Review (February 3, 1923): 20.
159. “Wagner’s Piano Shown,” New York Times, December 22, 1922; “American Debut of Wagner’s Piano,” Presto (December 30, 1922): 6.
160. Descriptions from “Wagner’s Piano Shown,” New York Times, December 22, 1922; “American Debut of Wagner’s Piano,” Presto (December 30, 1922): 6. Note “Richard Wagner’s Famous Piano Coming to America,” Musical Courier (May 18, 1922): 24–25.
161. “Nationalism Again,” Musical Courier (March 17, 1921): 22.
Chapter Four: “I Want to Teach a Lesson to Those Ill-Bred Nazis”: Toscanini, Furtwängler, and Hitler
1. Cable quotation from “Eyes of Musicians Turned to New Regime in Germany,” Musical America (April 10, 1933): 10. Leading newspapers across the country (e.g., in New York, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia) published the cable on April 2, 1933. The cable was also signed by conductors Serge Koussevitzky, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Artur Bodanzky, Walter Damrosch, Alfred Hertz, and Fritz Reiner; music educator Frank Damrosch; pianist Harold Bauer; and composers Charles Loeffler and Rubin Goldmark. Of the eleven signatories, only Goldmark was American-born; several were of German ancestry.
2. Program annotations by Lawrence Gilman for the New York Philharmonic, April 2, 1933, New York Philharmonic Archives (hereafter NYPA), Lincoln Center, New York. On Beethoven’s view of Napoleon, see Maynard Solomon, Beethoven (New York: Schirmer, 1998; orig. 1977), 173–85.
3. “Toscanini Directs ‘Eroica’ at Philharmonic’s Second Concert of Beethoven Cycle,” New York Times, April 3, 1933.
4. Ibid.
5. “Eyes of Musicians Turned to New Regime in Germany,” Musical America (April 10, 1933): 10.
6. John Diggins, Mussolini and Fascism: The View from America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972); and Benjamin Alpers, Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s–1950s (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 17–20.
7. For polling data, see Michaela Hoenicke Moore, Know Your Enemy: The American Debate on Nazism, 1933–1945 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 75–77. On America’s unwillingness to become involved in world affairs in this period, see Manfred Jonas, Isolationism in America, 1935–1941 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1966).
8. Deborah Lipstadt, Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933–1945 (New York: Free Press, 1986), chs. 1–2; and Moore, ch. 2.
9. “Music Leaders Here Plead for German Artists,” New York Herald Tribune, April 2, 1933; “Nazis to Control All Cultural Life,” New York Times, April 9, 1933; “Germany’s Art Must Be ‘Aggressive’—Goebbels,” Boston Globe, April 11, 1933; “Changes in German Musical Life,” New York Times, April 16, 1933.
10. “Busch Forced from Dresden Opera,” Musical America (March 10, 1933): 4; “Dresden Nazis Oust Busch,” Musical Courier (April 1, 1933): 5. One report claimed that Hitler tried and failed to intercede on Busch’s behalf. “Fritz Busch Not to Be Reinstated,” Ibid. (April 29, 1933): 5. Note “Hitlerites’ Jeers Drive Conductor from Opera,” New York Herald Tribune, March 8, 1933; “Nazis Break Up Busch ‘Rigoletto’ Performance,” Washington Post, March 8, 1933; “One Dies in Attack on Funeral of Nazi,” New York Times, March 8, 1933; “Take Up Case of Opera Head,” New York Times, March 9, 1933. See Michael H. Kater, The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 120–22. Busch also ran afoul of local Nazi politicians who wanted to cut the state opera’s budget.
11. Descriptions from Musical America (March 10, 1933): 6: “Bayreuth to Show Wagner Souvenirs”; “Wagner’s Germany Stands to Salute the Master”; “Leipzig Honors Anniversary of Illustrious Son.” Note “All Reich Honors Wagner in Leipzig,” New York Times, February 13, 1933.
12. “Art before Politics: The Crying Need for Tolerance in Germany’s Music,” Musical America (March 10, 1933): 16; “Wagner Celebrations in Germany,” Musical Courier (March 11, 1933): 5.
13. Among those who came to the United States were Maurice Abravanel, Adolf Busch, Paul Hindemith, Otto Klemperer, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Lotte Lehmann, Erich Leinsdorf, Arnold Schoenberg, Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin, Franz Shreker, William Steinberg, George Szell, Bruno Walter, and Kurt Weill. See Peter Gay, “ ‘We Miss Our Jews’: The Musical Migration from Nazi Germany,” in Driven into Paradise: The Musical Migration from Nazi Germany to the United States, Reinhold Brinkmann and Christoph Wolff, eds. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 21–30; and David Josephson, “The Exile of European Music: Documentation of Upheaval and Immigration in the New York Times,” in Ibid., 92–152. Note Joseph Horowitz’s fascinating study, Artists in Exile: How Refugees from Twentieth-Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts (New York: Harper, 2008), esp. ch. 2.
14. “Bruno Walter Concert Barred by Nazi Anti-Semite Campaign,” New York Herald Tribune, March 17, 1933; “Bruno Walter Concert Prohibited by Nazis,” Baltimore Sun, March 17, 1933; “Ban Concert at Leipzig,” Chicago Tribune, March 17, 1933; “Nazis Bar Concert by Bruno Walter,” New York Times, March 17, 1933; “Germany Bars Walter from Orchestra Podium,” Christian Science Monitor, March 18, 1933; “Race-Bars Rise in Fatherland,” Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1933; “Nazis Press Policy of Racial Purging,” New York Times, March 18, 1933; “Vienna Hails Walter; Nazis Denounce Him,” New York Times, April 13, 1933. See Kater, 93–94, 114–16.
15. “Otto Klemperer Concert Banned by Anti-Semites,” New York Herald Tribune, March 25, 1933; “Even Art Must Bend to Regulations,” Los Angeles Times, April 11, 1933; “Plea for Art Made by Furtwaengler,” New York Times, April 12, 1933; “German Jew Deprived of Leadership,” Christian Science Monitor, June 6, 1933; “Otto Klemperer Ousted as Jew at Berlin Opera,” New York
Herald Tribune, June 7, 1933.
16. “Philharmonic’s New Leader Rated among Five Greatest,” Los Angeles Times, June 18, 1933; and “Philharmonic’s Leader Arrives,” Los Angeles Times, October 15, 1933. Kater, 92–93, 112–14.
17. Norman Lebrecht notes Toscanini’s “fanatical” precision, while astutely pointing out that he made adjustments to the score when he thought it necessary. See The Life and Death of Classical Music (New York: Anchor, 2007), 16.
18. On the Verdi performances, see Joseph Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini: A Social History of American Concert Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 53. On Toscanini’s background and early career, see Harvey Sachs, Toscanini (New York: Harper and Row, 1978), chs. 1–2. In 2017, Sachs published a second, quite extraordinary biography: Toscanini, Musician of Conscience (New York: Liveright, 2017). I identify the relevant references as Sachs (1987) and Sachs (2017). On the early years, see Sachs (2017): chs. 1–3.
19. In the Herald Tribune, Lawrence Gilman was enthusiastic. Reviews quoted in Horowitz, 99. Some were less laudatory. Ibid., 100.
20. Recollections from Cesare Civetta, The Real Toscanini: Musicians Reveal the Maestro (Milwaukee: Amadeus Press, 2012), 20, 25 (Glantz); 156 (Shulman); 208 (Berv).
21. Sachs (1987), 135–36; Sachs (2017), 311–15; and Horowitz, 82–83. Note “Toscanini,” New York Times, September 4, 1917.
22. Sachs (1987), 139–40.
23. Norman Rich writes that the party initially combined socialistic and nationalistic elements. See Great Power Diplomacy since 1914 (New York: McGraw Hill, 2003), 166.
24. Sachs (1987), 139–40; Sachs (2017), 327–28.
25. Sachs (1987), 154–55; Sachs (2017), 369–70.
26. Quoted in Sachs (1987), 154.
27. Sachs (1987), 179, discusses a 1926 confrontation between Toscanini and Mussolini. Tensions with the fascists arose in Italy during Toscanini’s 1930 European tour with the New York Philharmonic. Sachs, Reflections on Toscanini (Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1993), 67–68; and Sachs (2017), 478–79.
28. Description based on Sachs (1987), Toscanini, 208–15; and Sachs, Reflections on Toscanini, 68–82. See Sachs (2017), 506–8.
29. Sachs (1987), Toscanini, 209–10; and Sachs, Reflections, 68–70; and from the following newspaper accounts: “Italian Youths Trounce Toscanini for Refusal to Play Fascist Hymn,” New York Herald Tribune, May 15, 1931; “Toscanini Assailed,” New York Sun, May 19, 1931; “Slap Toscanini; Refuses to Play Fascist Anthem,” Chicago Tribune, May 16, 1931; “Toscanini, Hurt in Row, Cannot Lead Vienna, New York Times, May 16, 1931; “Censure for Toscanini Voted by Italian Professional Groups,” Ibid., May 19, 1931. Note “A Cultural Reign of Terror,” Boston Globe, May 16, 1931.
30. Sachs (1987), 209–10; Sachs, Reflections, 68–70. Note the following accounts, and those cited below: “Toscanini Faces Fascist Discipline,” New York Post, May 21, 1931; “Detaining Toscanini,” Ibid., May 22, 1931; “Toscanini Plans to Conduct at Bayreuth in July,” New York Herald Tribune, May 23, 1931.
31. In addition to the press accounts cited above, see “20 Arrested in Milan, Cheering Toscanini,” New York Times, May 20, 1931; “Toscanini Held in Milan, Passport Taken; Koussevitzky Cancels Contract in Protest,” New York Times, May 22, 1931; “Toscanini Has to Cancel Vienna Engagement; Pleads ‘Illness,’ but Is Still Held by Fascisti,” Ibid., May 23, 1931; “Toscanini Refuses to See Any Callers,” Ibid., May 24, 1931; “Footnotes on a Week’s Headlines, Ibid.; “Friends of Toscanini Arrested,” Los Angeles Times, May 20, 1931; “Toscanini Loses His Passport,” Ibid., May 22, 1931; “Hold Toscanini ‘Prisoner’; Italy Seizes Passport,” Chicago Tribune, May 22, 1931. Additional accounts from Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Boston on website.
32. Toscanini letter reprinted in Sachs, Reflections, 70–71, which is where the Mussolini quotes appear. Note Sachs (2017), 508–9. See “Toscanini Writes Appeal to Duce; Still ‘Prisoner’,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1931; “Duce Handling Toscanini Row,” Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1931; “Mussolini Handling Toscanini Affair,” New York Times, May 27, 1931.
33. “Toscanini Incident Resented by Labor,” New York Times, June 12, 1931. Dewey taught at Columbia, Taussig at Harvard, and Lovett at the University of Chicago.
34. “Toscanini Held in Milan, Passport Taken; Koussevitzky Cancels Contract in Protest,” New York Times, May 22, 1931. Note “Koussevitzky Shuns Italy after Toscanini Affront,” New York Herald Tribune, May 26, 1931.
35. “Koussevitzky Sees Italy’s Doors Closed to Him; Links Fascisti and Red in ‘Crimes’ against Art,” New York Times, May 31, 1931.
36. “Detroit Conductor Declines to Lead Italian Concerts,” Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1931. Note “Gabrilowitsch Refuses to Lead Concerts in Italy,” Baltimore Sun, Ibid.; “Gabrilowitsch Refuses to Conduct in Italy,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Ibid; and “Praises Toscanini as Man of Courage,” New York Times, June 11, 1931 (by Gabrilowitsch). It appeared as “Toscanini Tells His Story” in the Boston Globe, June 15, 1931.
37. “Stokowski Reproves Italy for Toscanini Treatment,” New York Herald Tribune, June 3, 1931; “Attack on Toscanini by Fascisti Stirs Art World,” Musical America (June 1931): 5. Note “Stokowski Protests Slapping of Toscanini,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 3, 1931.
38. “Attack on Toscanini by Fascisti Stirs Art World,” Musical America (June 1931): 5. On the Bartók statement, see Sachs (1987), 215; Sachs (2017), 511–12.
39. On Toscanini’s departure for Switzerland, see “Toscanini in Retreat, Wears Haggard Look; Fascist Attack on Him Called an Ambush,” New York Times, June 15, 1931; “Toscanini to Quit Italy,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 4, 1931; “Toscanini Leaves Italy,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1931. On Bayreuth, “Toscanini Expects to Be at Bayreuth,” New York Post, May 23, 1931; “Toscanini Has Passport; Will Go to Bayreuth,” New York Herald Tribune, May 29, 1931; “Toscanini Going to Bayreuth,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 4, 1931.
40. “Disciplining Toscanini,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 25, 1931. A reader took issue with the editorial. “Toscanini’s Refusal to Play,” Ibid., May 30, 1931.
41. “Toscanini in Retreat, Wears Haggard Look; Fascist Attack on Him Called an Ambush,” New York Times, June 15, 1931.
42. “Again Toscanini Battles for His Art,” New York Times Magazine (June 21, 1931): 3. Fritz Reiner, former music director of the Cincinnati Symphony, who was conducting a symphonic concert at La Scala, acceded to the crowd’s demands; they insisted he conduct the Royal March and “Giovanezza.” “Toscanini on June 15 Leaves for Baireuth,” New York Times, June 4, 1931; and “Echoes of Toscanini Affair,” Ibid., June 21, 1931.
43. “Toscanini Heads Protest to Hitler,” New York Times, April 2, 1933; “Music Leaders Here Plead for German Artists,” New York Herald Tribune, April 2, 1933.
44. “Toscanini Heads Protest to Hitler,” New York Times, April 2, 1933.
45. “Toscanini Heads Protest to Hitler,” New York Times, April 2, 1933.
46. Sachs, Reflections, 118; Sachs (2017), 544–45.
47. “Toscanini’s Appeal Brings Ban by Nazis,” New York Times, April 5, 1933; “German Radio Boycotts Toscanini Recordings,” New York Herald Tribune, April 5, 1933; “Germany Rules Toscanini and Others off the Air,” Boston Globe, April 5, 1933; “Nazis’ Boycott Not to Reopen,” Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1933.
48. “Kreisler Deplores Plea to Toscanini,” New York Times, April 5, 1933. Note “Above the Battle,” Boston Globe, April 7, 1933.
49. “Kreisler Deplores Plea to Toscanini,” New York Times, April 5, 1933. Note “Kreisler Opposes Toscanini Action,” New York Post, April 5, 1933; “Kreisler Urges Toscanini Make Bayreuth Visit,” New York Herald Tribune, April 5, 1933.
50. “Insists Toscanini Will Go to Reich,” New York Times, April 9, 1933.
51. “Toscanini’s Appeal Brings Ban by Nazis,” New York Times, April 5, 1933. Dr. Richard Lynch of the New York Unity Society argued Toscanini should go to Bayreut
h. “Toscanini Urged to Conduct at Baireuth [sic] for Good-Will,” New York Times, April 10, 1933.
52. Toscanini to Hitler, April 29, 1933, in The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, Harvey Sachs. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 138.
53. Toscanini to Bayreuth, May 5, 1933, in Ibid.
54. “Wagner’s Birthday Celebrated by Nazis,” New York Times, May 23, 1933.
55. “Toscanini Denies Rumors of Illness,” New York Times, October 7, 1931; “Frau Wagner Decries Politics at Beireuth,” New York Times, October 18, 1931.
56. “Toscanini Cancels Bayreuth Visit over Nazi Persecution of Jews,” New York Herald Tribune, June 6, 1933; “Toscanini Refuses to Go to Bayreuth,” New York Times, Ibid.; “Toscanini Refuses to Conduct Wagnerian Festival at Bayreuth,” Baltimore Sun, Ibid.; “Toscanini’s Refusal Disappoints Germans,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 1933; “Strauss Will Conduct at Wagner Festival,” Boston Globe, June 8, 1933. Toscanini cabled the contents of the telegram to Frau Wagner to the New York Philharmonic from Florence. “Activities of Musicians Here and Afield,” New York Times, June 11, 1933.
57. “Toscanini Stays Away,” Baltimore Sun, June 7, 1933. New York Herald Tribune quoted in “Toscanini Forsakes Bayreuth,” Literary Digest (June 24, 1933): 16. “Toscanini’s Decision,” letters page, New York Herald Tribune, June 10, 1933.
58. “Maestro Toscanini’s Protest,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 1933.
59. “Snub by Toscanini Worries Germans,” New York Times, June 8, 1933. Americans read about the German decision to lift the ban on Toscanini’s recordings (although only his recordings would be played), which indicated a willingness to ease the sanctions that were originally imposed on those who had cabled Hitler. Once the conductor announced he would not perform at Bayreuth, the ban was reinstated. “Snub by Toscanini Worries Germans,” New York Times, June 8, 1933; “Germany Lifts Toscanini Ban,” Los Angeles Times, June 8, 1933.
60. “Jews Pay Tribute to Toscanini Here,” New York Times, January 24, 1934. Note “Toscanini: Beloved Orchestral Tyrant Celebrates a Birthday,” News-week (March 31, 1934): 17–18; “Jewish National Fund to Honor Toscanini,” Boston Globe, June 7, 1933.
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