HOMAGE TO TWO GLORIES OF ITALIAN MUSIC: ARTURO TOSCANINI AND MAGDA OLIVERO Emilio Spedicato University of Bergamo December 2007
[email protected] Dedicated to: Giuseppe Valdengo, baritone chosen by Toscanini, who returned to the Maestro October 2007 This paper produced for the magazine Liberal, here given with marginal changes. My thanks to Countess Emanuela Castelbarco, granddaughter of Toscanini, for checking the part about her grandfather and for suggestions, and to Signora della Lirica, Magda Olivero Busch, for checking the part relevant to her. 1 RECALLING TOSCANINI, ITALIAN GLORY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY As I have previously stated in my article on Andrea Luchesi and Mozart (the new book by Taboga on Mozart death is due soon, containing material discovered in the last ten years) I am no musicologist, just a person interested in classical music and, in more recent years, in opera and folk music. I have had the chance of meeting personally great people in music, such as the pianist Badura-Skoda, and opera stars such as Taddei, Valdengo, Di Stefano (or should I say his wife Monika, since Pippo has not yet recovered from a violent attack by robbers in Kenya; they hit him on the head when he tried to protect the medal Toscanini had given him; though no more in a coma, he is still paralyzed), Bergonzi, Prandelli, Anita Cerquetti and especially Magda Olivero. A I have read numerous books about these figures, eight about Toscanini alone, and I was also able to communicate with Harvey Sachs, widely considered the main biographer of Toscanini, telling him why Toscanini broke with Alberto Erede and informing him that, contrary to what he stated in his book on Toscanini’s letters, there exists one letter by one of his lovers, Rosina Storchio.