TOSCANINI ARTURO Autograph Letter Signed to Dearest Johnson

Sale 2413 - Lot 260

Price Realized: $ 750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

"THE COMMERCIAL [IDEAS] OF GATTI-CASAZZA LED ME TO ABANDON THE METROPOLITAN" TOSCANINI, ARTURO. Autograph Letter Signed, to "Dearest Johnson," in Italian, in green ink, explaining that the presence of [Artur] Bodanzky at the Metropolitan Opera was due to a recommendation from [Ferruccio] Busoni, noting that the reason for his own departure from the Met was a conflict of outlooks with Met general manager Giulio Gatti-Casazza, and recommending Henry Weinberg as a theater conductor. 4 pages, 8vo, written on a single folded sheet; second and third pages written vertically. Np, 27 November 1939

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"In 1915, the reason for the arrival at the Metropolitan of my poor friend Bodanzky was the recommendation of Busoni. He was supposed to share the German repertoire with me. My artistic views butting up against those commercial [ideas] of Gatti-Casazza led me to abandon the Metropolitan, so that the collaboration with the friend didn't happen. [Gatti-Casazza], however, remained . . . for a good twenty-four years.
"Today I would like to recommend . . . Henry Weinberg. Weinberg is a born theater orchestra conductor . . . . I consider him the best among the young. . . ."