Jan 28, 2021 - Sale 2556

Sale 2556 - Lot 144

Price Realized: $ 469
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
DAVID FREDENTHAL (1914-1958)
"Toscanini Conducting." Together, 6 candid drawings of the internationally acclaimed Italian Conductor performing during recording sessions for RCA Victor, 1949. Pen, ink, and watercolor on three separate sheets of watercolor paper (drawings are on rectos and versos of each sheet.) Each 203x140 mm; 8x5 1/2 inches. Unsigned.

As the story goes, Arturo Toscanini was fiercely protective of his studio sessions and rehearsals. Fredenthal, a friend of one of the recording technicians at RCA, snuck in and was allowed to observe the rehearsals from the booth. Over the course of six weeks, he was able to produce a dynamic series of drawings of the notoriously private conductor totally unguarded and engrossed in his craft -- that is, until Toscanini spotted Fredenthal and had him summarily removed. With Toscanini at his peak fame, Vogue published several of Fredenthal's drawings, August 1, 1949 "Toscanini: Six rehearsal sketches of the Maestro."