117. “Koussevitzky to Do All to Aid Russia,” Boston Globe, October 20, 1941; and “Believes Russians Will Win,” Boston Post, Ibid. Note “Koussevitzky Forgives Soviets, Will Head Russian War Relief,” Boston Herald, Ibid. Note that the newspaper and magazine accounts (through note 128) are from the Boston Symphony Clipping files, Pres 56, Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives, Symphony Hall, Boston.
118. “Koussevitzky Lost to Reds ‘Over Million’,” date and publication uncertain, but Boston publication (likely February 20, 1941). Note “Citizenship New Symphony for Koussevitzky,” Boston Herald, February 20, 1941; “Symphony Head Passes Last Quiz,” Boston Post, Ibid.
119. “Citizen’s Day Stirs 12,000,” Boston Post, May 19, 1941. Note “Americanism Draws Great Throng,” Christian Science Monitor, Ibid.
120. “Conductor Offers Music for Soldiers,” Rochester Times Union, December 8, 1941.
121. “Russian Relief Benefit to Draw Gala Audience,” Washington Times-Herald, March 29, 1942; “Boston Symphony Draws Brilliant Throng from Official, Resident Circles,” Washington Star, April 1, 1942.
122. “Boston Symphony Heard in Russian War Relief Concert,” Washington Post, April 1, 1942.
123. “Thrilling Russian Relief Concert in Capital Reflects Soviet-U.S. Unity,” Daily Worker, April 2, 1942.
124. For national coverage, see website.
125. Madame Litvinoff in “Constitution Hall Crowds Cheers Soviet Banner at Relief Meeting,” Columbus Dispatch, April 1, 1942.
126. “The Revolution’s On! Society Applauds ‘The Internationale’,” PM Magazine, April 2, 1942. Note “Strange Things Can Happen,” Bristol Herald-Courier, April 2, 1942; “Mme Litvinov’s Musicale Draws Many Notables,” Washington Times-Herald, April 2, 1942; “Soviet Embassy Recital Honors Koussevitzky,” Ibid.
127. “Conductor Discusses Mission of the Artist,” address in the Springfield, MA, Sunday Union and Republican, September 26, 1943.
128. Ibid.
129. “President Praises Toscanini Concert,” New York Times, April 20, 1943. Note “Toscanini Directs Benefit Concert,” Ibid., March 25, 1943.
130. “Praise from Morgenthau,” Radio Age (July 1943): 34.
131. “Toscanini Slams a $10,000,000 Gate Right in the Fuehrer’s Face,” New York Post, April 26, 1943. On the 1943 Easter concert, see “Music,” New York Herald Tribune, April 26, 1943; “Toscanini Raises $10,190,045 for U.S.,” New York Times, April 26, 1943.
132. “Toscanini,” American Mercury (November 1944): 537–41.
133. “Art Where Men Are Free,” New York Times, April 4, 1943.
134. “Musician—and Symbol,” Musical America (September 1943): 16.
135. “Toscanini Leads ‘Victory, Act I’ Concert Tonight,” Herald Tribune, September 9, 1943. On Italy’s collapse, see R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945 (New York: Penguin, 2006), 491–97.
136. “Toscanini Marks Dawn of New Era for His Countrymen with Concert,” Musical Courier (September 1943): 3. Note “Toscanini, an Enemy of Fascism, Directs Radio Victory Program,” New York Times, September 10, 1943.
137. Background on the Life piece: Toscanini Letters, 389–94.
138. “To the People of America,” Life (September 13, 1943): 32.
139. Ibid. Note “His Music Speaks for Freedom,” New York Times Magazine, September 26, 1943, Clipping file, Arturo Toscanini, folder 17, NYPLPA.
140. “A Great Musical Event,” New York Times, May 23, 1944.
141. Preconcert descriptions: “900 to Appear in Concert for the Red Cross,” date and paper unclear, Clipping file, Arturo Toscanini, folder 17, NYPLPA; Louis Biancolli column (possibly from May 13, 1944), New World-Telegram and Sun (with no headline), Toscanini clipping file, Ibid.
142. “Toscanini Transforms the Garden and Thrills 18,000 at Benefit,” New York Post, May 26, 1944; “Mammoth Concert Benefits Red Cross,” Musical America (June 1944): 12.
143. “Toscanini Directs 2 Orchestras, 600 Voice Chorus for Red Cross,” New York Times, May 26, 1944. Note the stories under this headline; quotations from Downes’ piece.
144. Ibid.
145. On altering the language and his first performance of the piece, which was broadcast across the United States and the world, see “Toscanini Changes Verdi Line in Hymn to Read ‘Italy Betrayed’,” New York Times, February 1, 1943.
146. “Toscanini Directs 2 Orchestras, 600 Voice Chorus for Red Cross,” New York Times, May 26, 1944.
147. It appears that the January 31, 1943, broadcast of the “Hymn” and the May 25, 1944, concert version did not include the tribute to the Soviets, “The Internationale,” which Toscanini added for the 1944 documentary. (That Soviet tribute seems to have been included only in the 1944 documentary.) “The Star-Spangled Banner” excerpt, which Toscanini added in 1943, was included in all three performances of Verdi’s “Hymn.” The British and French anthems were part of Verdi’s original composition. Note “Toscanini Changes Verdi Line in Hymn to Read ‘Italy Betrayed,’ ” New York Times, February 1, 1943.
148. The documentary can be viewed on youtube.com. Go to Toscanini, “Hymn of the Nations.”
149. Ibid.
150. Transcribed from the youtube video. Ibid.
151. Ibid.
152. “Toscanini Superb in Film on Italy,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, August 21, 1944.
153. “Extraordinary Musical Diplomacy,” Etude (September 1944): 512.
154. “Sound Track to Victory,” NBC Transmitter, n.d. (likely early 1944), Clipping file, Arturo Toscanini, folder 14, NYPLPA. Note the press release, “Music News from NBC,” January 7, 1944, Ibid., folder 17.
155. “Music Speaks for America,” New York Times Magazine (January 23, 1944): 12.
156. Ibid.
157. “Blitzstein on Toscanini,” New York Times letter, April 14, 1946.
158. “Carnegie Hall Audience Spellbound as Koussevitzky Honors Roosevelt,” New York Times, April 15, 1945.
159. Ibid.
160. “Threnody,” Musical Courier (April 15, 1945): 3.
161. “Stokowski Program Heralds Peace,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1945.
162. “90,000 Sing of Peace at Festival,” Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1945; “Pre-War Cream has a Match—It’s Swarthout,” Ibid.
163. “Esplanade Holds Victory Celebration,” Musical America (September 1945): 10.
164. “Victory Night Observed at Stadium,” Musical Courier (September 1945): 18.
165. “Toscanini Concert Salutes V-J Day,” Musical Courier (October 1945): 10. Note “Toscanini Concert to Salute Victory,” New York Times, August 14, 1945.
Chapter Six: “I Come Here as a Musician”: Furtwängler, Gieseking, Flagstad, Karajan—and Hitler’s Ghost
1. “Furtwaengler Bows to the Nazis,” Chicago Daily News, January 14, 1949. Source found in the Clipping files of the Rosenthal Archives, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, Chicago (hereafter CSOA).
2. “102nd Infantry Chorus Sings for Richard Strauss in Garmisch,” Musical America (October 1945): 7. On Strauss’s relationship with the Nazi regime, see Michael H. Kater, Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), ch. 8.
3. Historian Benjamin Alpers astutely notes that the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime would “play an increasingly central role in American memory as World War II receded into the past.” Benjamin L. Alpers, Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s–1950s (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 276–78.
4. “Symphony Opening Features Ballet ‘Appalachian Spring’ by Copland,” Boston Globe, October 6, 1945; “Boston Symphony Fetes Victory,” Musical Courier (October 15, 1945): 7.
5. “Symphony Concert,” Boston Herald, October 6, 1945; “Elie Shifts Smoothly from War to Symphony,” Ibid.
6. “Vision of Greatness,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1945.
7
. “Victory to Be Theme Tonight for Symphony,” Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1945; “Chicago Symphony Opens 55th Season with Concert Dedicated to Victory,” Ibid., October 5, 1945; “Chicago Symphony Opens 55th Season, Third under Defauw Baton,” Journal of Commerce, October 5, 1945.
8. “Symphony Opener Proves a Gala, Exciting Concert,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 27, 1945. Note the concert ad in Ibid., October 24, 1945.
9. “Orchestra Opening,” Cleveland Press, October 11, 1945.
10. Leinsdorf caused agitation among Clevelanders over the decision not to play the national anthem. “Leinsdorf’s Return,” Cleveland Press, October 11, 1945. Note “Orchestra Opens Its 28th Season at Tonight’s Concert,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ibid.
11. The website details a number of concerts.
12. The phrase is from James Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 8–9. On the war’s impact and postwar optimism, see David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Democracy and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 856–57.
13. “Mission of Music,” Musical Courier (October 15, 1945): 3.
14. “The International Language,” File: Esplanade, July 20–August 15, 1945, Pub 185, Esplanade Concert Programs, box 1 July 4, 1929–August 13, 1958, Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives, Symphony Hall, Boston (hereafter BSOA). Fiedler quotation from the concert program.
15. During the war, Koussevitzky emphasized music’s potential to repair the fabric of world politics. “Music’s Role in the World of Tomorrow,” Musical Courier (December 1, 1944): 5.
16. “It’s Over, Over There,” Musical America (September 1945): 16.
17. “One World in Music,” Musical Courier (May 15, 1946): 7.
18. “World Music Unity Put Up to America,” Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1945.
19. David Monod, Settling Scores: German Music, Denazification, and the Americans, 1945–1953 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005), 3.
20. “Muted Trumpets,” Washington Post, May 31, 1945.
21. “Wagner without Thunder,” Newsweek (August 6, 1945): 91. Note “One Man Can Save German Music: He’s Philharmonic Leader in Berlin,” Ibid. (August 27, 1945): 62–63; “Solomon for Nazi Music,” Ibid. (September 10, 1945): 96.
22. “Under Postage: Germany’s Musical Future,” New York Times, August 19, 1945. Note Nettl’s “Nazi Crimes against Music: An Indictment,” Musical Courier (May 15, 1945): 9.
23. “Music and Collaboration,” Life (February 25, 1946): 19–20, Nazis and Music, Clipping file, Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, New York City (hereafter NYPLPA).
24. “Menhuin Calls on Allied World to Accept Furtwängler Again; Cites Snubs to Nazis,” New York Times, December 5, 1945.
25. “Menuhin to the Defense,” Time (December 17, 1945): 50.
26. “Furtwängler Called Trusted Friend of Nazis,” Herald Tribune, December 11, 1945. Note “Wangle by Furtwängler,” Newsweek (December 24, 1945): 107.
27. “Furtwängler Called Trusted Friend of Nazis,” Herald Tribune, December 11, 1945.
28. Ibid.
29. “Furtwängler’s Sympathies Subject of Controversy,” Musical America (December 25, 1945): 3.
30. Monod, ch. 4; Roger Allen, Wilhelm Furtwängler: Art and the Politics of the Unpolitical (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2018), ch. 7; Sam H. Shirakawa, The Devil’s Music Master: The Controversial Life and Career of Wilhelm Furtwängler (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), chs. 17–18; Daniel Gillis, Furtwängler and America (New York: Manyland Books, 1970), ch. 4.
31. For a sampling of national articles from the first half of 1946, see website.
32. Those activities included accepting an appointment by Hermann Göring as a Prussian State Councilor to the Prussian Staatsrat (the State Senate); serving as vice president of the Reichsmusikkammer (the Reich Chamber of Music); leading the Berlin Philharmonic throughout the war (including a performance celebrating Hitler’s birthday); and allegedly being responsible for the firing and drafting into the army of a music critic who, to Furtwängler’s chagrin, had lauded a young conducting rival named Herbert von Karajan. See “Furtwängler Called Nazi Tool, Is Barred from Berlin Podium,” New York Herald Tribune, February 26, 1946; “Tribunal Clears Furtwaengler of Nazi Taint, Verdict Cheered,” New York Herald Tribune, December 18, 1946.
33. “Nazi Ties Denied by Furtwaengler,” New York Times, December 12, 1946. Note widespread coverage included on the website.
34. “Furtwaengler Defends Self on Nazism Charge,” Herald Tribune, December 12, 1946. A Washington Post editorial mocked Furtwängler, claiming he had responsibilities that surpassed those of a potato peddler. “Apologia,” December 13, 1946.
35. “Nazi Taint Denied by Furtwängler,” newspaper unidentified, December 11, 1946, Clipping file, Wilhelm Furtwängler, NYPLPA.
36. “Furtwaengler is Cleared of Nazi Taint; German Verdict Subject to Allied Review,” New York Times, December 18, 1946; “Tribunal Clears Furtwängler of Nazi Taint, Verdict Cheered,” Herald Tribune, December 18, 1946; “Furtwängler Cleared in Berlin of Nazi-Collaboration Charge,” Christian Science Monitor, December 18, 1946. See website.
37. “Germans Absolve Dr. Furtwaengler,” New York Times, April 20, 1947. Note “Allies Absolve Furtwaengler of Nazi Taint,” Herald Tribune, April 30, 1947.
38. “Furtwaengler Is Acclaimed in Berlin Concert,” Herald Tribune, May 26, 1947. Note “Furtwaengler Returns to Berlin to Conduct,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1947.
39. Shirakawa, 347–48. See website.
40. Eric Oldberg to Wilhelm Furtwängler, August 10, 1948, from the Furtwängler material prepared for Maestro Daniel Barenboim by the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, Chicago (hereafter FF/CSOA for Furtwängler file/Chicago Symphony Orchestra Archives). Note that the Chicago newspaper accounts (through note 95) are from the Rosenthal Archives Clipping file.
41. Wilhelm Furtwängler to Eric Oldberg, August 20, 1948, FF/CSOA.
42. Eric Oldberg to Wilhelm Furtwängler, August 25, 1948, FF/CSOA.
43. See Ibid., and Furtwängler to Oldberg, September 4, 1948, FF/CSOA.
44. Furtwängler to Oldberg, Ibid.
45. Oldberg to Furtwängler, September 13, 1948, FF/CSOA.
46. Furtwängler to Oldberg, September 16, 1948, FF/CSOA.
47. Oldberg to Furtwängler, September 23, 1948, FF/CSOA.
48. Edward Ryerson to Furtwängler, November 1, 1948, FF/CSOA.
49. “On the Aisle,” November 5, 1948, Chicago Tribune.
50. George Kuyper to Furtwängler, November 10, 1948, FF/CSOA. Note Furtwängler to Kuyper, November 26, 1948, FF/CSOA. See what appears to be Furtwängler’s reflections (written on Kuyper’s stationary) on why he could not accept the position. About the situation of the orchestras of Vienna and Berlin, he wrote, “I cannot morally justify leaving them in the lurch.” Document’s date difficult to decipher, though it was written after Kuyper visited Furtwängler in Hamburg. “Memo from George A. Kuyper,” FF/CSOA.
51. “Wait Berlin Reply on Symphony Post,” Chicago Daily News, December 2, 1948.
52. Quotations: “Furtwaengler Offer Brings Cheers, Groans,” Chicago Daily News, December 3, 1948.
53. See the offer in a December 6, 1948, cable, George Kuyper to Furtwängler, FF/CSOA. A problem arose over Furtwängler’s compensation. Ryerson to Furtwängler, December 10, 1948, FF/CCSOA.
54. On financial compensation, see Furtwängler to George Kuyper, December 10, 1948, FF/CSOA.
55. “Furtwaengler Gets New Offer from Symphony,” Chicago Tribune, December 11, 1948.
56. “Furtwaengler Will be Guest Conductor Here,” Chicago Tribune, December 17, 1948.
57. “Furtwängler Accepts Offer by Chicago Board,” Musical America (January 1, 1949): 3. On Furtwängler’s technique, see “Accepts Offer as Conductor before It’s Made,”
Chicago Tribune, December 16, 1948.
58. Mrs. Joseph Perlman to Joseph Ryerson, December 20, 1948, FF/CSOA.
59. Pioneer Women to Board of Directors, January 17, 1949, FF/CSOA.
60. “Rabbi Berman Joins Fight on Furtwaengler,” Chicago Tribune, January 14, 1949. Note “Jewish Group Blasts Offer to Furtwaengler,” Chicago Sun, January 13, 1949.
61. “Wallace Supporters Open Drive against Furtwaengler Hiring,” Chicago Tribune, December 25, 1948. (Copy of the Young Progressives leaflet found in the Furtwängler file, CSOA.) “Furtwaengler Drops Mendelssohn Opus,” New York Times, January 14, 1936.
62. Murray L. Lobel to Dear Sir, January 8, 1949, FF/CSOA.
63. Reaction among classical musicians: “Furtwängler Engagement Stirs Anti-Nazi Protests,” Musical America (January 15, 1949): 3–4; “Artists Protest Furtwaengler Tour,” Musical Courier (January 15, 1949): 6; “Chill Wind in Chicago,” Time (January 17, 1949): 60, 63.
64. “Musicians’ Ban on Furtwaengler Ends His Chicago Contract for ’49,” New York Times, January 6, 1949.
65. Ibid. Note “Pianists Warn They’ll Boycott Furtwaengler,” Chicago Tribune, January 6, 1949; “Oppose Furtwaengler,” Chicago Daily News, Ibid.
66. “Others Rap Choice of Conductor,” Chicago Daily News, January 7, 1949. Note “Pons, Hubby War on Nazis’ Music Chief,” Boston Daily Record, January 7, 1949.
67. Kuyper to Furtwängler, December 28, 1948, FF/CSOA.
68. Account from a December 30, 1948, cable from Ryerson to conductor Ernest Ansermet, who was close to Furtwängler. The cable recounted a telephone conversation between Furtwängler and orchestra representatives. Ryerson to Ernest Ansermet, December 30, 1948, FF/CSOA.
69. Ryerson to Furtwängler, December 31, 1948, FF/CSOA.
70. Ibid.
71. “Musicians’ Ban on Furtwängler Ends His Chicago Contract for ‘49,” New York Times, January 6, 1949; “Others Rap Choice of Conductor,” Chicago Daily News, January 7, 1949; “Furtwaengler Gets Letter from Chicago Orchestra Manager,” Chicago Tribune, January 9, 1949.
72. “Furtwaengler Told of Row; Ryerson Mum on Contract,” Chicago Tribune, January 7, 1949. Note “Ryerson Is Silent on Furtwaengler,” New York Times, Ibid.
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