Toscanini: Musician of Conscience

Written by Harvey Sachs

Narrated by Paul Boehmer

During a sixty-eight year career, conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957) was famed for his fierce dedication, photographic memory, explosive temper, and impassioned performances. At various times he dominated La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the NBC Symphony, and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, and Lucerne festivals. His reforms influenced generations of musicians, and his opposition to Nazism and Fascism made him a model for artists of conscience. Thanks to unprecedented access to the conductor's archives, Harvey Sachs has written a completely new biography that positions Toscanini's epic musical career and sometimes scandalous life against the roiling currents of history. Set in his native Italy, across Europe and the Americas, and in 1930s Palestine, Toscanini soars in its exploration of genius, music, and moral courage, taking its place among the greatest music biographies of our time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Jun 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781681686608

Reviews for Toscanini

[marcello_324836275 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bravissimo, Harvey Sachs! This was an extraordinary probe into the public and private life of the genius conductor. Sachs’ lengthy portrait takes us on a global and nearly century-long journey of an icon — from boy wonder to heroic anti-fascist to tyrannical conductor to serial womanizer and beyond. Although the audiobook was 40 hours, I would love to hear even more.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The biography of a legend in classical music. One of the first names that I learned in my formative years learning about music in the 1950s. Not only is this a fine biography of the great Toscanini it provides the cultural and political background of the twentieth century that had a tremendous impact on all of our lives.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[TOSCANINI] could rank as Harvey Sachs Life Work.

It is amazingly comprehensive and delivers smooth reading through all 864 pages,
beginning with a photograph of a young boy whose vision is already intense
as he stands with an arm protectively holding his sister.

[vlodko62 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this as an audiobook. All 40 1/2 hours of it. I seldom make it through audiobooks of that length, and I’ll admit I had put it down at one point. But I came back to it and persevered - and my perseverance was richly rewarded!

A masterful biography, it captures the atmosphere of musical life from the latter part of the 19th through the first half of the 20th Century. All of that shown on the backdrop of the history (writ large) that he lived through: two world wars, Mussolini, Hitler, Toscanini’s own anti fascist stance, which ultimately led to his flight from Italy and years of exile.

If you are a music lover, or interested in music history, or just like well-written and well-researched biographies, this book is for you.