Bibliographie
Sources
Archives de la NBC, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
« Mr. David Sarnoff’s Statement to the Public », March 1937, NBC press release, Folder 1241.
The NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York, 1938.
« Clockless Studio is legacy left by Arturo Toscanini », 17 March 1938, NBC press release, Folder 1241.
« Gershwin’s Mother pays war tribute to Toscanini for first rendition of famous jazz classic », NBC Press Department, New York, 14 October 1942, NBC press release, Folder 1238.
« America’s Top dance band conductors acclaim Toscanini for Rhapsody in Blue presentation », 23 October 1942, NBC press release, Folder 1238.
« President Roosevelt lauds Toscanini for its devotion to cause of liberty », 20 April 1943, NBC press release, Folder 1238.
« Morgenthau sends warm thanks to Toscanini for war bond concert », 20 May 1943, NBC press release, Folder 1238.
« Toscanini appears in his first film, but refuses any salary for sounding anti-fascist paean again », NBC Daily News, 1944, Folder 1238.
« Arturo Toscanini, Offstage. He loves Television sports, puppet shows, Music, Most of the time he’s quiet, charming », 22 November 1949, NBC press release, Folder 1240.
Letter from Arturo Toscanini to David Sarnoff dated 8 February 1937, NBC press release, Folder 1243.
Letter from Arturo Toscanini to John F. Royal dated 24 December 1937, NBC press release, Folder 1242.
Letter from David Sarnoff to Arturo Toscanini dated 7 March 1948, « NBC’s upcoming gift to him of a 1948 Cadillac equipped with a mobile telephone », Folder 1240.
Sarnoff, David, « Toscanini returning to U.S. for series of NBC broadcasts », 5 February 1937, NBC press release, Folder 1241.
Sarnoff, David, NBC press release, 7 March 1938, Folder 1241.
Articles de presse
New York Times
Downes, Olin, « Return of Toscanini », New York Times, 14 February 1937.
Downes, Olin, « Radio Orchestra makes debut here. NBC’s New Symphonic Group, led by Monteux, is Heard at Radio City Studios », New York Times, 14 November 1937.
Downes, Olin, « Toscanini starts his air broadcasts. Distinguished Studio Audience Hears Him Direct Under Tense and Unique Conditions », New York Times, 26 December 1937.
Downes, Olin, « Toscanini on radio seen in new light; NBC Symphony’s Third Concert Has Amazing Effects for Listener in His Home », New York Times, 10 January 1938.
Dunlap, Orrin, « Radio Invades Strongholds of the Musical World: Broadcasters in Signing Toscanini Stir Discussion of Radio’s Effect on Old Art », New York Times, 7 March 1937.
Dunlap, Orrin, « Sound and fury; Listeners Wish Radio Would “Shush” Studio Applause and Stop Other Pests », New York Times, 5 September 1937.
Dunlap, Orrin, « Music in the Air », New York Times, 7 March 1947.
DUNLAP, Orrin, « The Maestro’s Magic », New York Times, 9 January 1938.
Taubman, Howard, « Toscanini concert is telecast by NBC », New York Times, 21 March 1948.
Taubman, howard, « Should Conductors Be Seen or Just Heard? », New York Times, 25 April 1948.
Unkown, « The Messenger Boy. Mr. David Sarnoff, who began his life in America as a messenger boy, has again glorified his office », New York Times, 7 March 1938.
Fortune Magazine
Davenport, Marcia & Russell, « Toscanini on the Air », Fortune Magazine, January 1938.
Radio Guide
Liebling, Leonard, « His Musical Majesty Arturo Toscanini », Radio Guide, December 1937.
Chase, Francis, « Toscanini the Mysterious », Radio Guide, March 1940.
Curtis, Mitchell, « Medal of Merit awarded to Arturo Toscanini », Radio Guide, January 1938.
Radio Stars
Haenley, Jack, « The Ten most Unusual People in Radio », Radio Stars, October 1938.
Petersen, Elisabeth Benneche, « The Housewife be pleased », Radio Stars, October 1938.
Autres
« Petrillo relents Television presents Toscanini » and « Rival CBS program featured a maestro who ate cough drops », Life Magazine, 5 April 1948, p.43-46.
« Toscanini by Television », Newsweek, 29 March 1948, p.79.
Bibliographie générale
Barnouw, Erik, A Tower in Babel. A History of Broadcasting in the United States To 1933, New York, Oxford University Press, 1966.
bilby, Kenneth, The General. David Sarnoff And the Rise of the Communications Industry, New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1985.
BUSH JONES, John, The Songs that Fought the War. Popular Music and the Home Front (1939-1945), Waltham, Brandeis University Press, 2006.
Cantril, Hadley, Allport, Gordon W., Psychology of Radio, New York, Harpers & Brothers, 1935.
CHOTZINOFF, Samuel, Toscanini. An Intimate Portrait, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.
Delong, Thomas A., The Mighty Music Box. The Golden Age of Musical Radio, Los Angeles, Amber Crest Books, 1980.
Dunning, John, On the Air. The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Fauser, Annegret, Sounds of War. Music in the United States during World War II, New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013.
FRANK, Mortimer H., Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Years, Portland, Amadeus Press, 2002.
Haggin, Bernard H., The Toscanini Musicians Knew, New York, Horizon Press, 1967.
HILLIARD, Robert L., KEITH, Michael C., The Broadcast Century and Beyond. A Biography of American Broadcasting, Boston, Focal Press, 2004.
HOROWITZ, Joseph, Understanding Toscanini. A Social History of American Concert Life, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1994.
Levine, Lawrence W., Highbrow/Lowbrow. The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1988.
Lynch, Chrystopher, When Hollywood Landed at Chicago’s Midway Airport. The Photos and Stories of Mike Rotunnp, Charleston, The History Press, 2012.
Morin, Edgar, Les Stars, Paris, Éd. du Seuil, 1972.
ROSE, Kenneth, Myth and the Greatest Generation. A Social History of Americans in World War II, New York, Routledge, 2008.
SACHS, Harvey, Toscanini, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1978.
TOSCANINI, Arturo, The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, ed. et trad. H. Sachs, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2006.
WARREN, Paul, Le Secret du star-system américain. Une stratégie du regard, Montréal, L’Hexagone, 1989.
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Notes
“On dit d’un homme pour le louer qu’il est un homme unique.” (Delacroix, Eugène, Journal (1822-1863), ed. A. Joubin, R. Labourdette, Paris, Plon, 1996, p.270).
“– Faites-moi une vedette./ – Budget habituel ?/ – Budget habituel.” (Arlaud, Rodolphe-Maurice, Cinéma-Bouffe. Le cinéma et ses gens, Paris, J. Melot, 1945, p.163.)
American stations and channels are affiliated with networks, a concept which differs from that of a centralized channel, like the BBC in England, or a cooperative network, like the ARD in Germany. NBC was the first national network in the United States.
Two years earlier, in 1935, Hadley Cantril published a first social psychological study on the radio audience: Cantril, Hadley & Allport, Gordon W., Psychology of Radio, New York, Harpers & Brothers, 1935.
David Sarnoff (1891-1971) was the founder of NBC and president of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created in 1927. In a long memo to the CEO of Marconi in 1915, he revealed his visionary project to make wireless telegraphy into an entertainment instrument for the general public: “I have in mind a plan of development which would make radio a ‘household utility’ in the same sense as the piano or phonograph” (cited in and borrowed from Hilliard, Robert L., Keith, Michael C., The Broadcast Century and Beyond. A Biography of American Broadcasting, Boston, Focal Press, 2004, p.16).
On this subject, see the article by American author and radio editor Dunlap, Orrin, “Music in the Air”, New York Times, 7 March 1947. Especially: “The main force encouraging Mr. Toscanini to accept is that radio enables him to reach such an infinitely larger audience in one broadcast than during an extended concert tour.”
“I invited Maestro Arturo Toscanini, the world greatest conductor, to return to America […]” (Sarnoff, David, “Toscanini returning to U.S. for series of NBC broadcasts”, 5 February 1937, NBC Archives, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. [hereinafter “NBC Arch.”], NBC Press Release, Folder 1241).
“The licensing authority may grant such permit if public convenience, interest, or necessity will be served by the construction of the station […]” (excerpt from Public Law, No. 632, 69th Congress, Section 21, cited in Barnouw, Erik, A Tower in Babel. A History of Broadcasting in the United States To 1933, New York, Oxford University Press, 1966, p.310). After an initial period of chaos due to the uncontrolled multiplication of broadcasting stations in the 1920s, the American Congress created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), under the Radio Act of 1927, in order to regulate the attribution of radio frequencies. The FRC (which became the Federal Communications Commission in 1934) was a federal agency tasked with granting a broadcasting license to any station that was “of public convenience, interest or necessity”, on the condition that it had complied with the technical regulations and guidelines laid down by Congress.
Delong, Thomas A., The Mighty Music Box. The Golden Age of Musical Radio, Los Angeles, Amber Crest Books, 1980, p.152.
During the first decades of American radio, unsponsored radio program—such as educational, religious and political shows, and certain rebroadcasts of concerts—were called “sustaining programs”, because they were solely for public benefit. Thus, the station financed this type of program itself, paying for them partly with the profits from sponsored programs.
Morin, Edgar, Les Stars, Paris, Éd. du Seuil, 1972, p.12.
Davenport, John and Marcia, “Toscanini on the Air”, Fortune Magazine, January 1938, p.62-63. According to a survey conducted by Fortune Quarterly Survey in 1937.
Sarnoff, NBC Press Release, 7 March 1938, NBC Arch., Folder 1241.
Cited in BILBY, Kenneth, The General. David Sarnoff and the Rise of the Communications Industry, New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1985, p.241.
“You probably know someone who has been talking for weeks about Toscanini’s first broadcast with the new NBC orchestra on Christmas night. This is the story of how that spectacular program was put together, and why” (Davenport, “Toscanini on the Air”, art. cit., p.62).
Idem.
Letter from Toscanini to John F. Royal dated 24 December 1937, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1242.
“Clockless Studio is legacy left by Arturo Toscanini”, 17 March 1938, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1241.
Dunlap, Orrin, “Sound and Fury; Listeners Wish Radio Would ‘Shush’ Studio Applause and Stop Other Pests”, New York Times, 5 September 1937.
Downes, Olin, “Return of Toscanini”, New York Times, 14 February 1937.
Letter from Toscanini to Sarnoff dated 8 February 1937, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1243.
Sachs, Harvey, Toscanini, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1978.
The NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York, 1938, NBC Arch. This promotional publication featured a biography of each musician in the orchestra along with a portrait drawn by artist Bettina Steinke.
Liebling, Leonard, “His Musical Majesty Arturo Toscanini”, Radio Guide, 25 December 1937, p.2.
For example, “The Atwater Kent Hour”, a music program that aired on NBC from 1926 to 1934. The name of the brand was assimilated and integrated into listeners’ minds almost subliminally: after a performance by a singing quartet, the host introduced the performers as the “Atwater Kent Quartet”, just as the tenor was “the tenor of the Atwater Kent Hour”, and the orchestra was “The Atwater Kent Symphony Orchestra”. For more on this subject, see Dunning, John, On the Air. The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998, p.48-49.
On the notion of “radiogeny”, see the book by Coeuroy, André, Panorama de la radio, Paris, Éditions Kra, 1930.
Within the specialized press devoted to the radio industry, the following publications are of particular note: Radio Digest, Radio Stars and Radio Mirror.
“Mr. David Sarnoff’s Statement to the Public”, March 1937, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1241.
After the last concert of the season, NBC sent out another press release which sparked articles such as this unsigned editorial in the New York Times: “The Messenger Boy. Mr. David Sarnoff, who began his life in America as a messenger boy, has again glorified his office”, New York Times, 7 March 1938.
Liebling, “His Musical Majesty Arturo Toscanini”, art. cit., p.2.
Lieberson, Goddard, “Over the Air”, Modern Music, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1938, p.115.
Davenport, Marcia, “All Star Orchestra”, Stage, December 1937, p.79.
Haenley, Jack, “The Ten most Unusual People in Radio”, Radio Stars, October 1938, p.20-21.
Curtis, Mitchell, “Medal of Merit awarded to Arturo Toscanini”, Radio Guide, January 1938, Vol. 7, No. 11, p.1.
“He did nothing for show, nothing for himself […] and the Old Man always felt the composer was much more important than the conductor” (Haggin, Bernard H., The Toscanini Musicians Knew, New York, Horizon Press, 1967, p.57-58).
Lynch, Christopher, When Hollywood Landed at Chicago’s Midway Airport. The Photos & Stories of Mike Rotunno, Charleston, The History Press, 2012, p.34.
Chase, Francis Jr., “Toscanini the Mysterious”, Radio Guide, 23 March 1940, p.4-5.
Morin, Les Stars, op. cit., p.46: “The idealization of a star of course implies spirituality. Photos often show the star busy painting, as if inspired by the most authentic form of talent, or perhaps crouching before their bookshelves consulting a great book […]”; “L’idéalisation de la star implique bien entendu une spiritualité. Les photos nous montrent souvent la star occupée à peindre sous l’inspiration du plus authentique talent, ou bien accroupie devant sa bibliothèque, consultant un bel ouvrage […].”
“Arturo Toscanini, Offstage. He loves Television sports, puppet shows, Music, Most of the time he’s quiet, charming”, 22 November 1949, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1240.
Idem.
Toscanini, Arturo, The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, ed. H. Sachs, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2006, p.318. Letter from Toscanini to Ada Mainardi, dated 23 December 1937.
Letter from David Sarnoff to Arturo Toscanini, dated 7 March 1948, “NBC’s upcoming gift to him of a 1948 Cadillac equipped with a mobile telephone”, NBC Arch., Folder 1240.
Morin, Les Stars, op. cit., p.170: In his study on the star system practices in Hollywood movie industry, Morin examined the star’s relationship with his fictional character, his public character and the ways he is represented, as well as his own statements and those made by the press. He explains: “The star is the product of a personality dialectic: an actor imposes his personality on his roles, and his roles impose their personality on him. This superimposition gives rise to a mixed being which is the star. This means that the actor contributes a certain capital—his own personality”; “La star est le produit d’une dialectique de la personnalité : un acteur impose sa personnalité à ses héros, ses héros imposent leur personnalité à un acteur ; de cette surimpression naît un être mixte : la star. Cela signifie que l’acteur apporte son capital de personnalité propre.”
Ibid., p.37. The author considers that a “dialectic of interpenetration” occurs between a movie star and her role: “A star is not just an actress. Her characters are not just characters. The characters in the movie contaminate the star, just as the star herself contaminates her characters”; “La star n’est pas seulement une actrice. Ses personnages ne sont pas seulement des personnages. Les personnages du film contaminent les stars. Réciproquement, la star elle-même contamine ses personnages.”
Letter from Arturo Toscanini to Leopold Stokowski dated 25 June 1942, in Toscanini, The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, op. cit., p.386.
For more on this subject, see: Fauser, Annegret, Sounds of War. Music in the United States during World War II, New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013, p.50-53.
“Gershwin’s Mother pays war tribute to Toscanini for first rendition of famous jazz classic”, NBC Press Department New York, 14 October 1942, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1238.
“America’s Top dance band conductors acclaim Toscanini for Rhapsody in Blue presentation”, 23 October 1942, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1238.
{0>Concert du 25 avril 1943, « President Roosevelt lauds Toscanini for its devotion to cause of liberty », Arch. NBC, NBC Press Release, Folder 1238.<}0{>Concert on 25 April 1943, “President Roosevelt lauds Toscanini for his devotion to cause of liberty”, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1238.<0}
{0>« You expressed in music the might and power and fierce resolve deep down within us all to battle to victory » (« Morgenthau sends warm thanks to Toscanini for war bond concert », 20 mai 1943, Arch. NBC, NBC Press Release, Folder 1238).<}0{>“Morgenthau sends warm thanks to Toscanini for war bond concert”, 20 May 1943, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1238.<0}
{0>À ce sujet, voir l’ouvrage de ROSE, Kenneth, Myth and the Greatest Generation:<}0{>On this subject, see Rose, Kenneth, Myth and the Greatest Generation.<0} {0>A Social History of Americans in World War II, New York, Routledge, 2008.<}0{>A Social History of Americans in World War II, New York, Routledge, 2008.<0}
Bush Jones, John, The Songs that Fought the War. Popular Music and the Home Front (1939-1945), Waltham, Brandeis University Press, 2006, p.198. Irving Berlin, the author of the famous God Bless America, composed a song called “Any Bonds Today?” for a cartoon produced by the United States Treasury Department to promote National Defense war bonds and savings bonds.<0}
Keeping in mind that Toscanini’s political engagement in the anti-fascist movement went farther back. As principal conductor at La Scala in Milan, he publicly expressed and manifested his opposition to Mussolini’s regime, advocating for a democratic Italy. He refused to play the fascist party’s hymn Giovinezza before the curtain went up, as ordered by Il Duce’s Black Shirts, and he refused to allow portraits of Mussolini to be hung on the walls of the Scala. In 1933, he also opposed Hitler, boycotting German orchestras and theatres in protest of anti-Jewish laws which were forcing Jewish musicians into exile. See Sachs, Toscanini, op. cit. On Toscanini’s relationships with political authorities, see also the book by the same author: Reflections on Toscanini, New York, Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.
Correspondence between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Arturo Toscanini, reproduced in a press release of 20 April 1943 entitled “President Roosevelt lauds Toscanini for his devotion to cause of liberty”, NBC Arch., NBC Press Release, Folder 1238.
Idem.
Taubman, Howard, New York Times, 26 September 1943.
Sachs, Toscanini, op. cit.
“Toscanini appears in his first film, but refuses any salary for sounding anti-fascist paean again,” NBC Arch., NBC Daily News, Folder 1238.
NBC Arch., Folder 1238.
In reference to the song entitled Video Killed the Radio Star by the English band, The Buggles.
“Behind your Radio Dial: The Story of NBC”, 1947. Film available online at:
https://archive.org/details/BehindYo1947
Ben Grauer (1908-1977) was a star announcer on NBC. Toscanini chose him to be the designated announcer for the NBC Symphony Orchestra from 1940 to 1954. In 1963, he produced and presented the series “Toscanini, The Man Behind the Legend”, which aired on the radio until 1980.
Sarnoff, David. Speech introducing the first-ever live televised broadcast of a concert on NBC on 20 March 1948. Source: “Arturo Toscanini—The Television Concerts 1948-1952”, DVD Vol. 1, Testament, 2006.
Idem.
“Petrillo relents Television presents Toscanini”, “Rival CBS program featured a maestro who ate cough drops”, Life Magazine, 5 April 1948, p.43-46.
Taubman, howard, “Should Conductors Be Seen or Just Heard?”, New York Times, 25 April 1948.
Hilliard, Robert L., Keith, Michael C., The Broadcast Century and Beyond. A Biography of American Broadcasting, Boston, Focal Press, 2004, p.158.
“Toscanini by Television”, Newsweek, 29 March 1948, p.79.
Taubman, Howard, “Toscanini Concert is Telecast by NBC”, New York Times, 21 March 1948.
Toscanini, The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, op. cit., p.445.
Horowitz, Joseph, Understanding Toscanini. A Social History of American Concert Life, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1994, p.302.
Sachs, Toscanini, op. cit., p.314.
Horowitz, Understanding Toscanini. A Social History of American Concert Life, op. cit., p.303.
The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) also owned the “Victor RCA” record label under which Arturo Toscanini’s records were marketed.
From the French “star-marchandise” as defined by MORIN in Les Stars, op. cit., p.9.
Levine, Lawrence W., Highbrow/Lowbrow. The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1988. This ideal of cultural practices refers to the creation of cultural hierarchies and the divide between two types of culture—elitist and popular, or highbrow and lowbrow—that coexisted in the second half of the nineteenth century in the United States. This dichotomy gradually replaced the notion of “shared public culture” that Levine describes in his book. This “cultural bifurcation” involved the sanctification of the art music repertory manifested through respect for the work’s integrity.
Ibid., p.147.
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