Toscanini, Arturo

including: “Fior di Siepe,  Romanza”, dated “Parma 20 Maggio 1884”, “Autunno” for soprano and piano, two full scores and parts for arrangement of “Inno di Garibaldi”, “L’Anima ed il Sorriso, Romanza” for tenor and piano, full-score transcription of a section of Verdi’s “Aida” with some parts, piano transcription of “Star Spangled Banner”, full-score arrangement of “L’Internazionale”, dated “Nov 7 1943”, full score and parts for a string quintet titled “Meditazione”, “Spes ultimo dea” for voice and piano, “Nevrosi” for voice and piano, “Vicino all’ Amante” for tenor and piano, “Ballatella” for voice and piano, dated “1882-83”, and Il Canto di Mignon, dated "1884",

various sizes, mostly unbound, c.220 pages



together with: five autograph manuscripts in another hand, including two of Toscanini’s early “Scherzo in G minor” for orchestra, two short movements for string quartet, "Preghiera alla Vergine" for string quintet, and "Son Gelosa" for voice and piano; five first or early editions of Toscanini's compositions, including "V'amo" for voice and piano, Torino: Giudici e Strada; "Autunno" for soprano and piano, Milano: F Lucca; "Berceuse" for piano solo, Milano · Bologna: Giudici & Strada; "Nevrosi" for soprano and piano, autograph dated "25 Gennaio 1888" with annotations, Milano: F. Lucca; and many reproductions of the works mentioned above and others, including the parts for Toscanini's orchestral arrangement of Emile Waldteufel's waltz "Les Patineurs", "Dezolazione" for voice and piano, "Primo Bacio" for soprano and piano, and the final proof of a compilation of all Toscanini's works for voice and piano, "The Songs of Arturo Toscanini", 3 May 2010, Subito Music; 2010

various sizes, mostly unbound, c.705 pages

Sachs (1978), p29; Taubman (1951), pp12-21; Flury (2010) pp iii-v

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Many of the works present in this collection were written during Toscanini’s musical apprenticeship at the Royal School of Music in Parma, which he entered in 1876 at the age of nine. As an independent, sometimes wayward child, he must have found the rigid environment of the school frustrating; on one occasion he was caught directing a small orchestra he had formed illicitly with his schoolmates, all of whom were stripped of their privileges and placed on a ration of bread and water as a punishment. Despite these hardships, he excelled in all areas of musicianship (earning himself the nickname “il genietto”, the little genius), including composition. Some of the works in this collection, including the scherzo in G minor, were submissions for the school composition prize, which he won with the highest possible mark.

In his introduction to an anthology of Toscanini's songs, Roger Flury finds a striking combination of musical influences across his œuvre: the melodies of Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, the orchestration of Mendelssohn, Mascagni, and even an anticipation of Puccini; it is the work of "a fledgling composer in possession of an emerging individuality, albeit comfortably embedded in the musical vocabulary of the time".  

It seems that the mature Toscanini had mixed feelings about his juvenilia. He consented to their publication in the late 1880s (several of these first editions are in this collection), yet attempted to suppress their distribution and performance soon after. Given his rapid rise through the ranks as a conductor and the resulting contact he enjoyed with the greatest composers of the day, this is perhaps not surprising. However, in his seminal biography, Harvey Sachs relates an anecdote that suggests Toscanini warmed considerably to his early compositions in later years: "Towards the end of his life, [Toscanini] had been challenged to write out some of his youthful compositions from memory, at a distance of sixty to seventy years. This he did - texts included - and with few discrepancies. In fact, he became so intrigued that he even tried writing rhythmic English translations of some of them". Several of those late manuscripts - for the pieces "Autunno", "Ballatella", "Il canto di Mignon" and "Nevrosi" - are presented here, while others in this collection ("Quando cadran le foglie", "Gavotta", "Fior di siepe", "Spes Ultima Dea" and "Vicino all' Amante") date from his youth. Thus these manuscripts form a unique musical record tracing the course of Toscanini's life and development as an artist.