Toscanini: A Biography

FAIN: FB-55099-10

Harvey Sachs
Unaffiliated Independent Scholar (New York, NY 10025-2974)

This will be the most complete biography ever undertaken of Arturo Toscanini (Parma, Italy, 1867 - New York, 1957), the celebrated opera and concert conductor, reformer of musical performance practices, and stalwart opponent of Fascism and Nazism, whose long career was divided almost equally between Italy and the United States. His influence on American musical life in the 20th century was enormous, through his stints with the Metropolitan Opera (1908-15), New York Philharmonic (1926-36), and NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937-54), and through his many recordings and radio and TV broadcasts. My first biography of Toscanini was published by Lippincott in 1978 and was considered definitive at the time, but so vast a quantity of material has come to light during the intervening decades that it needs to be completely re-researched, reshaped, and rewritten. I am an independent scholar and writer and cannot undertake so massive a project without financial assistance.