Godina izdanja: Ostalo
ISBN: Ostalo
Jezik: Engleski
Oblast: Muzika
Autor: Strani

U dobrom stanju

TOSCANINI An Intimate Portrait

by Samuel Chotzinoff
Hardcover 1956
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Alfred A. Knopf; Book Club Edition (January 1, 1956)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
148 pages



Toscanini, An intimate Portrait, by Samuel Chotzinoff (Alfred A. Knopf, 1956)

Vivid reading of the most engaging sort, this is an intimate portrait of Toscanini by Samuel Chotzinoff, the noted music critic and NBC official, who has known the great Italian conductor and his family well for years. Toscanini is seen at work and at play both here and in Europe—in all his fierce concentration on music, his playful and sometimes epic outbursts of temperament. Mr. ChotzinofFs intense admiration for Toscanini the conductor and love for Toscanini the man underlie this portrait. So vivid and entertaining is the candid biographer that Holi¬day ran about sixty per cent of this text as a four-part serial. For its anecdotes alone this would be a reader’s goldmine. But it is much more than anecdotage: it is a living evocation of the foremost performing musician of our time.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIAN SIEGEL

THE CAREER OF SAMUEL CHOTZINOFF, who was horn in Vitebsk, Russia, in 1889, has carried him through various occupa-tions: pianist, music critic, radio and television director. Educated in New York City’s public schools and at Colum¬bia University, Mr. Chotzinoff began his life in the musical world as pianist with Efrem Zimhalist in 1912 and continued as assistant pianist on tour with Alma Gluck in 1915 and with Jascha Heifetz in 1918. Then from 1925 to 1931 he was music critic on the New York Word and from 1934 he held the same position on the New York Post. He became a consultant to NBC in 1937, and is now its General Music Director for Radio and Television. As readers of this book will discover, he took an active part in organizing the NBC Symphony Orchestra and in persuading Arturo Toscanini to become its conductor and to remain with it for eighteen years. Mr. Chotzinoff is married to Pauline Heifetz, sister of the noted violinist; the Chotzinoffs have one son and one daughter. His hook of early reminiscences, A Lost Paradise, was published in 1955.


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“For one hour and a half he was on his feet, shouting, swearing, cajoling, his baton describing unorthodox convolutions, straight-up- and-down rapier stabs, delicate sideswipes, long horizontal even undulations like a gently moving multi-arched snake, or sudden circular movements like a cowboy twirling a lariat. At last he stopped, took his watch from his pocket`, held it very close to his eyes, and, realizing that he had overstepped the union regulation of an intermission after an hour of rehearsal, said contritely: “Excuse me,” and stepped off the podium. ... We rubbed him down with a coarse towel, which we then draped over his shoulders. His wife gave him a lozenge to chew, and a straw fan which he wielded vigorously over his scalp all through the quarter-hour of intermission. . . . “And the orchestra, Maestro?” I asked. He interrupted his fanning and said: “I am content.” A moment later he stopped fanning himself again. “Send me Mischakoff,” he said (Mischakoff was the concert master). . . . “Caro Mischakoff,” the Maestro said, “do not make too much vibrato in the solo at the end of the Adagio. I beg of you, not too much vibrato thank you, my dear. ..”

Mischakoff left, and the Maestro leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and fanned himself mechanically. Now and again he raised his left hand and heat out a measure, or made undulating motions as if molding a phrase. I gazed at him with emotion. At this moment nothing in the world mattered to him but the contour of a phrase in the slow part of a Brahms symphony.”

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Samuel Chotzinoff was a piano accompanist and later a music critic. He first met Toscanini in 1926 when he was a critic for the New York World. In 1937, RCA hired him to develop the NBC Symphony and get Toscanini to be its conductor. Chotzinoff succeeded in this, and Toscanini led the NBC Symphony until 1954 (except for 1941-2), when he retired. Toscanini was a remarkable man whose conducting career spanned 68 years and who became the world`s most famous conductor.

The edition is the 1956 one published by A.A. Knopf. The book ends with Toscanini`s retirement in 1954, after the infamous farewell performance in which his fantastic musical memory failed him for the first time in his career. Toscanini died in 1957, so he was still alive when Chotzinoff`s book was first published, but it`s not clear that he provided any input himself.

At only 148 pages, this book is a quick read. Chotzinoff`s style is conversational and makes for easy reading. In the front of the book are some photos of the maestro, both conducting and relaxing. The book is almost exclusively concerned with Chotzinoff`s interaction with Toscanini, so don`t look here for a comprehensive treatment of the maestro`s life and career.


ključne reči
Arturo Toskanini, dirigent, biografija