TOSCANINI in MILAN Postcard by Riccardo Guasco

TOSCANINI IN MILAN Postcard by Riccardo Guasco

The ladies remove their hats, the last of the latecomers take their seats and the lights are dimmed. The low hum in the parterre of La Scala fades and silence falls. As if by miracle, a theatre has risen again from the ashes, just when it seemed impossible. Gone are the curfew alarm, the shriek of the bombs and the thundering planes. The music of Verdi and Puccini wafts through the air of Milan once again. Arturo, it’s your turn. A gold medallion is propped on the music stand. It is a gift from the orchestra musicians, and it carries the words “To the Maestro who was

Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN RIO Postcard by Elisa Macellari

The fury of the spectators at the Don Pedro II Theatre in Rio de Janeiro is shaking it to its very foundations. The conductor, Leopoldo Miguéz, has drawn whistles at the premiere of Aida. Superti, his replacement, hasn’t even managed to signal the upbeat to the orchestra before being drowned out by shouting and whistling and fleeing the stage. Now the rostrum is empty. Come on, Arturo, you know Aida by heart, the orchestra musicians say. Toscanini sets down his cello, stands up, takes the baton in hand, closes the score and begins conducting from memory. The violins

© Elisa Macellari courtesy of the artist. Toscanini tecnica a Rio, mista ARTURO TOSCANINI IN EUROPA E NEL MONDO strike up the first notes of the overture: it is like an astonishing miracle which spreads through the air on the evening of the 30th of June, 1886.

Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI AND THE GRAND CANYON Postcard by Gianluca Folì

Harmony is everywhere. If you can feel it, you can find it inside Bach and Mozart, Beethoven and Verdi. There’s the flawless music of the words in Dante’s three-line stanzas and the verses of Leopardi and Petrarch. The canvases of the realists and ‘macchiaoli’ artists conceal a hidden score made up of colours and nuances, and some swear that Arturo has at least two hundred paintings in his home in Via Durini. And there is an emotion which envelopes all the others, a fact which dawns on Toscanini one day during a long trip across the United States, while taking a break

© Gianluca Folì courtesy of the artist. Toscanini e il Grand Canyon, acquerello + digitale ARTURO TOSCANINI IN EUROPA E NEL MONDO between tours. “I am drunk with beauty… there is no wonder more incredible or unreal than this Grand Canyon. Yesterday evening at sunset, and this morning at sunrise, I had tears in my eyes, so moved was I by the miraculous gift nature has given me”. Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN BOLOGNA Postcard by Giovanna Giuliano

It is a warm springtime evening in Bologna. A certain Isotta Fraschini, bareheaded in the May breeze, heads down Via Zamboni towards the porticoes of the Theatre. Inside is Maestro Toscanini, who will be conducting the concert this evening, although he has already said he will not be performing the Marcia Reale or Giovinezza. It didn’t go down well with the Black Shirts, although the music is the last thing they have come for: they are here for a fight. Insults are hurled, and Toscanini receives a blow to his left cheek, low down, on the edge of

© Giovanna Giuliano courtesy of the artist. Toscanini digital painting a Bologna, ARTURO TOSCANINI IN EUROPA E NEL MONDO his lip. Emi¬lio the chauffeur pushes the Maestro into the car, and races down Via delle Moline, Via Indipendenza and straight to the hotel. You have to leave, Maestro, leave Italy, don’t come back. Not until there is room for free, beautiful things once again. Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN NEW YORK Postcard by Gloria Pizzilli

It’s a strange business, hearing oneself on the radio with these modern microphones which eliminate the hissing noise. And performing Beethoven at New York’s Carnegie Hall with the NBC orchestra, knowing people back in Milan are listening, perhaps at that very instant, is altogether quite incredible. Play for all you are worth, Arturo. You aren’t the type for political rallies, nor are you a film star; yet you are on the cover of Time, and the whole world is listening to you. Play the Fifth Symphony, play the triumph of light as it leaves the shadows far behind,

© Gloria Pizzilli courtesy of the artist. Toscanini a New York, digitale + matita ARTURO TOSCANINI IN EUROPA E NEL MONDO play it as loud as a Morse code of three dots and a dash which shouts Victory, Victory. The war is finally over.

Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN JERUSALEM Postcard by Martoz

The sun is beating down on the metal roof of a hangar in the old port of Tel Aviv. Inside is a violinist who escaped from the ghetto in Warsaw just before death arrived dressed as a Nazi officer. He has travelled all over Europe to make his dream come true, saving one musician at a time to create the Palestine Orchestra. Where once there was fear, now there are violins. Where there was despair, now there are flutes, oboes and clarinets. The honour is all yours, Arturo. Climb onto the stage and let the new orchestra of peace play!

Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN PARIS Postcard by Simone Massoni

A veritable horde of stars has arrived: Enrico Caruso, Pasquale Amato, Emmy Destinn, Louise Homer, Olive Fremstad, Leo Slezak, Antonio Scotti and Geraldine Farrar. They are all there for Toscanini and the New York Metropolitan, to see a season of Italian operas at Théâtre du Chatelet. They say that the Maestro is unstoppable; he is a powerhouse, a human diesel engine running at full speed. When people ask him how one goes about becoming the world’s most famous orchestra conductor, he firmly replies: “My secret is

© Simone Massoni courtesy of the artist. Toscanini a Parigi, brush + digitale pen ARTURO TOSCANINI IN EUROPA E NEL MONDO very simple: I have the orchestra perform each and every note just as it was written by the composer.”

Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN BAYREUTH Postcard by Francesco Poroli

In the city of Bayreuth in Bavaria, a theatre sits atop a hill. It is not just any theatre; it is one of the world’s most famous theatres. Wagner had it built, and only his operas are performed there. They are played in an innovative way, almost like a ceremony: Bayreuth is a temple to opera music. The best orchestra conductors come here to prove their brilliance. The big news is that Toscanini is the first non-German conductor to perform here. So why is it that Maestro Toscanini hasn’t returned to the Bayreuth Festival? Even the Führer himself asked him… well, that’s the

Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t

TOSCANINI IN PARMA Postcard by Ale Giorgini

Arturo is sitting on a stool in a small room in Parma’s “Regia Scuola di Musica” music school. He is playing the cello as best he can to please his teacher, who has great faith in him. He is just a thirteen-year-old boy, the son of a seamstress and a Garibaldi supporter. Arturo has yet to grow his trademark handlebar moustache, and knows nothing about the world, about Brazil and New York, about radio and steamships, about war and hope. All he has is “an unquenchable thirst to know, to understand music. All music.” To this day, his passionate, free spirit lives

© Ale Giorgini courtesy of the artist. Toscanini a Parma, digitale ARTURO TOSCANINI IN EUROPA E NEL MONDO on in the alleys of the old town centre, in the long, narrow little houses in the Oltretorrente neighbourhood, amidst the glimmering windows of the brand-new Auditorium, beneath the porticoes of the Casa della Musica, and in the orchestra which proudly bears his name. Il genio del maestro attraverso 9 illustrazioni d’autore

BACI DA ARTURO La vita il genio e il temeramento di Arturo Toscanini t raccontati in nove cartoline d’autore his is k toscaniniit toscanini re a t i v e h ou s e . i COMUNE DI PARMA t