Toscanini: when music equals conscience

When I first started listening to classical music, I thought of Toscanini as a despotic conductor who often favored too fast tempi, but later in life I found out more about his real legacy, one that encompassed an absolute concentration on the music he performed, and a high moral stature materialized in a fierce opposition to the fascism that ruled in his homeland.

A couple of years ago I started to read enthusiastic praise towards a new Toscanini biography written by Harvey Sachs. Many considered it the definitive tome on the Italian conductor, and that includes people that I trust and admire profoundly, such as Alex Ross, my favorite classical music critic. My interest in reading this book was then ignited.

I finally had the chance to buy the book a couple of months ago, and I have to admit that I was totally enthralled by it the minute I opened its 900 pages. I became aware right away of how fascinating Toscanini’s life was indeed.

And even when one could think that, given the subject, an interesting biography was not difficult to pull off, I can honestly say that Sachs definitely deserves the adulation he’s been receiving. Sachs had already written a biography on the Italian conductor, but he was recently given, by Toscanini’s family, a real treasure to any researcher -a series of tapes that recorded the conductor’s many thoughts and anecdotes of his legendary career.

Arturo Toscanini was born in Parma in 1867, and from an early age he showed an indisputable talent for music. He entered the conservatory to study the cello, an instrument in which he proved to be proficient, and he even delved into composing. Nonetheless, he soon discovered that his true calling lied in conducting. Hence, he dedicated his life to it.

This biography is amazing simply because it reveals amazing insights. Toscanini had a photographic memory, which enabled him to memorize 3 hour long operas in less than a day. The details about his absolute concentration and rigor he devoted to the works he conducted is also mesmerizing to read. His outbursts, which ended in physical altercations with a few musicians are surely reproachable, but one could also read them as evidence of his total commitment to music.

Sachs also dedicates a considerable amount of pages to Toscanini’s erotic endeavors. He was a married man, but he was no loyal husband. And he invested so much effort and energy in his amatory whereabouts because he seemed to find a correlation between his loving and the intensity of his conducting. The more he loved, the more energized he felt when playing music. It would be too easy to dismiss such a justification for his straying, but Toscanini’s energy was extraordinary. Even when he was about to turn eighty, his sons would complain of ending up exhausted after being in his company.

However, the most remarkable feature of his entire life, in my opinion, was his generosity. Toscanini had a very casual relationship with money. His devout wife Carla would take care of it. He was able to amass a considerable fortune during his lifetime, but he wasn’t indulging in it. Throughout his entire life, he found ways to give it to whoever needed it. He constantly organised charity concerts to raise money for musicians. The Scala had once given him a bonus for his extraordinary commercial success, and he gave it back to the theater so its management could pay for a much needed construction work. 

Toscanini also stood up courageously against the rise of fascism both in his native country and later in Germany. As the title of this biography reads, Toscanini was above all, a musician of conscience.

Even if he could be manipulative and insincere in the love arena, when it came to music he was relentlessly honest. He often addressed harsh words towards works written by his contemporaries, even his loved ones. In this regard, it is fascinating to read about the devotion he felt towards Verdi, his close yet intermittent link with Puccini and the tense relationship he held with rival conductors like Furtwangler. He criticized him strongly for his closeness to the Nazi regime, but he also acknowledged his outstanding musical talents. 

The best gift reading this book gave me was a nourishment of hope. We are surely living in dark times. I am in my mid-thirties, an age in which innocence vanishes giving it room to cynicism. Despite all of this, I ended up filled with a great deal of optimism after reading Sachs’ magnificent book.

Music can be used to make a better world after all.