THE STEINBACH CONUNDRUM

The problem stated

No observer or listener, nor anyone familiar with the copious literature about Toscanini, can fail to be aware of his fierce independence of spirit and of his devotion to every aspect of the score as written – ‘come scritto’ – a devotion manifest in virtually all of his recorded legacy. Nevertheless, one theme emerging from the narrative in this book which may tend to affect perceptions of Toscanini's literal adherence to the score – an adherence frequently modified in practice – is the presence of various influences, certainly in the early stages of his career, which were absorbed into his musical bloodstream in his approach to the great Austro-German works to which, from the outset, he was determined to give as much weight as his native Italian repertoire.

If, as the opening chapter suggests, Toscanini's approach to Wagner took due note of the achievements of such luminaries as Hans Richter and Karl Muck, it was the Brahms performances of the composer's favoured conductor, Fritz Steinbach, which throughout his career drew Toscanini's most explicit praise. Chapters 11 and 12 detail Toscanini's tributes to Steinbach's Brahms, which he absorbed at the Munich Brahms Festival in 1909, and the latter chapter also examines in outline the characteristics of Steinbach's style which appear to have left an imprint on Toscanini's landmark performances (as there evaluated) of Brahms's Fourth Symphony in the Queen's Hall on 3 and 5 June 1935.