Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall]]

The NBC Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company as a vehicle for conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Toscanini and other conductors and served as house orchestra for the network from 1937 to 1954. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891–December 12, 1971) led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities shortly after its founding in 1919 to his retirement in 1970. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... Arturo Toscanini listening to playbacks at RCA Victor (BMG Music) Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian musician. ...

History

Tom Lewis, in the Organization of American Historians Magazine of History, described NBC's plan for cultural programming and the origin of the NBC Symphony:

David Sarnoff, the president of RCA who had first proposed the “radio music box” in 1916 so that listeners might enjoy “concerts, lectures, music, recitals,” felt that the medium was failing to do this. By 1937, RCA had recovered enough from the effects of the Depression for it to make a dramatic commitment to cultural programming. With the most liberal terms Sarnoff hired Arturo Toscanini to create an entire orchestra and conduct it. On Christmas night, 1937, the NBC orchestra gave its first performance—Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso in D Minor—in an entirely refurbished studio in the RCA Building. “The National Broadcasting Company is an American business organization. It has employees and stockholders. It serves their interests best when it serves the public best.” That Christmas night, and whenever the NBC orchestra played over the next 17 years, he was right. ^[1]

Mr. Sarnoff spared no expense in creating the NBC Symphony. Artur Rodziński, a noted orchestra builder and musical task master in his own right, was hired to mold and train the new orchestra especially for Toscanini. Prominent musicians from major orchestras around the country were recruited for the orchestra and conductor Pierre Monteux was engaged to help in the effort as well. In addition to creating prestige for the network, it has been alleged that one of the reasons NBC created the orchestra was to deflect a Congressional inquiry into broadcasting standards.^[2] Artur RodziÅ„ski was featured on the cover of Time magazine (link to cover story) on February 17, 1947 Artur RodziÅ„ski (January 1, 1892 - November 27, 1958) was a Polish conductor. ... Pierre Monteux (April 4, 1875 – July 1, 1964) was an orchestra conductor. ...

Under Toscanini's direction, the orchestra's first broadcast concert aired from NBC's Studio 8H. In addition to weekly broadcasts on the NBC Red and Blue networks, the NBC Symphony Orchestra made many recordings for RCA Victor of symphonies, choral music and operas. Televised concerts began in March 1948 and continued until 1952. In the fall of 1950, NBC converted Studio 8H into a television studio and moved the broadcast concerts to Carnegie Hall, where many of the orchestra's recording sessions and special concerts had taken place. The final broadcast concert (recorded in both mono and stereo) took place there on April 4, 1954, and the final recording sessions were in early June 1954. The NBC Radio City Studios was a radio and television studio located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California. ... Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The New Opera in Oslo, Norway The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. ... Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ... April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Toscanini led the NBC Symphony for 17 years. Under his direction the orchestra toured South America in 1940 and the USA in 1950. It performed with a veritable who's who of the top conductors of the day, including Monteux, Ernest Ansermet, Erich Kleiber, Erich Leinsdorf, Charles Munch, Fritz Reiner, Leopold Stokowski, George Szell, Bruno Walter, the young Lorin Maazel and the promising young Italian conductor Guido Cantelli. Upon Toscanini's retirement in the spring of 1954, NBC disbanded the orchestra, much to Toscanini's distress. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (November 11, 1883 – February 20, 1969) was a Swiss conductor. ... Erich Kleiber (August 5, 1890 – January 27, 1956) was an Austrian-born conductor. ... Erich Leinsdorf (February 4, 1912 - September 11, 1993) was a conductor. ... Charles Münch (September 26, 1891 – November 6, 1968) was a French conductor and violinist. ... This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Leopold Stokowski (born Antoni StanisÅ‚aw BolesÅ‚awowicz April 18, 1882 in London, England, died September 13, 1977 in Nether Wallop, England) was the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Bruno Walter (September 15, 1876 – February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor and composer. ... Lorin Varencove Maazel (born March 6, 1930) is a conductor, violinist and composer. ... Guido Cantelli (April 27, 1920 - November 24, 1956) was a promising Italian orchestral conductor whose career was tragically cut short by his death at the age of 36 in an airplane crash in Paris, France. ...

Symphony of the Air

Some NBC Symphony members went on to play with other orchestras, notably Frank Miller (principal cello) and Leonard Sharrow (principal bassoon) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. However, many NBC Symphony Orchestra members regrouped to become the Symphony of the Air, making their first recording on September 21, 1954, and giving their first public concert at the United Nations 9th Anniversary Celebration on October 24.^[3] On November 14 they appeared on Leonard Bernstein's acclaimed Omnibus TV show about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and Bernstein led the Symphony of the Air during its first season. With an Asian tour under the auspices of the State Department and an attendance of 60,000 at concerts in the Catskills that summer, the first season was a huge success. Frank Miller (1912-1986) was a principal cellist and music director whose professional career spanned over a half century. ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a bowed stringed instrument, the lowest-sounding member of the violin family. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that plays in the tenor range and below. ... The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, based in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the leading orchestras in the world. ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 68 days remaining. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining. ... Leonard Bernstein (pronounced BERN-styne)[1] (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, and pianist. ... 1820 portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler Beethoven redirects here. ... The coversheet to Beethovens 5th Symphony. ... Catskill Escarpment and Blackhead Range as seen from Overlook Mountain The Catskill Mountains (also known as simply the Catskills), a natural area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are not, despite their popular name, true geological mountains, but rather a mature dissected plateau...

For nearly a decade, the Symphony of the Air performed many concerts led by Leopold Stokowski, the orchestra's music director from 1955. The orchestra recorded widely (on Columbia, RCA, United Artists and Vanguard) under many famous conductors, including Bernstein, Monteux, Reiner, Stokowski, Walter, Thomas Beecham, Alfonso D'Artega and Josef Krips, before it disbanded in 1963. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Alfonso DArtega was born in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, on June 5, 1907. ... Josef Alois Krips (born 8 April 1902 in Vienna, died 13 October 1974 in Geneva) was an Austrian conductor and violinist. ...

Listen to

• Toscanini and NBC Symphony Orchestra (1947): Berlioz' The Damnation of Faust (13 minutes)
• Toscanini and NBC Symphony Orchestra (1953): Beethoven's Eroica, Third Movement

References

October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Audiophile Audition: Review of Arturo Toscanini conducts The NBC Symphony: The Television Concerts--1948-52, Volume Four
• All Music Guide: NBC Symphony Orchestra
• "A Toscanini Odyssey" by Mortimer H. Frank
• NBC Symphony personnel listing