Toscanini

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28182, 22 January 1957, Page 8

Toscanini

Toscanini's death illustrates one of life’s supreme sorrows: the inevitable extinction of talents so luminous that generations enjoy their glory. Though personally unknown to most, Toscanini will be mourned by many thousands of music-lovers the world over; and each will feel a sense of deprivation, as if he had lost a friend. For Toscanini achieved a peculiar and perhaps unique eminence. At the turn of the century he was already famous; and in the succeeding years of a long life, his genius acquired an almost magic quality. A giant of music, he was the master of giants: and to their most inspired works he added the fire of his own extraordinary gifts. A kindly destiny allowed him to become a bridge between the rich musical heritage of the World and the audiences of the New. One of his most enthusiastic American admirers was Helen Keller, the famous blind and deaf writer. She derived exquisite pleasure from attending Toscanini’s concerts, which she “ heard ” by placing her fingers on a piece of wood, and

sensing its delicate vibrations. Toscanini’s stature as a musician was such that it is difficult to draw comparisons from the realm of music in his own time. He was not unworthy, in a wider context, to stdnd beside Einstein, who also made the United States his adopted home. Both were primarily interpreters of fundamental truths; both explored sublime heights and .depths unknown tc common man; both had rare ability, together with the needful courage and confidence in their powers, to take the products of earlier genius, probe their elements, and enhance their brilliance. They rebelled against oppression, and withstood the storms ot human malice. They widened man’s knowledge, and revealed as relative what had been considered absolute. Tos- j canini spoke with a universal tongue; its echoes were in the souls of men. With the Maestro’s death, all is not lost. Creatively, he has died; nevertheless, his work lives on, through the modern marvels of radio and gramophone techniques, to the advancement of which he gave valuable support.