Verdi, Wagner and Sousa for the Red Cross

Synopsis

When the United States entered World War I, American animosity against all things German resulted in a ban on German symphonic music and operas. During World War II however, musically speaking, things were different. With America at war with Germany and Italy, music by Wagner and Verdi, for example, continued to be performed in our concert halls and opera houses.

In fact, just as the Nazis tried to appropriate German classical music for their propaganda purposes, the Allies adopted the opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as a Morse Code “V” for Victory motive, and in our wartime propaganda, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, accompanied images of Allied bombers racing through the clouds to strike German cities.

On May 25, 1944, the combined orchestras of the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony presented a Red Cross Benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. The first half of the program was all-Wagner, the second half, all-Verdi. During the intermission, New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia auctioned off maestro Toscanini’s baton.

As a grand finale, after the German and Italian music, Toscanini closed with a rousing all-American encore — his own arrangement of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever.

So, as Walter Cronkite would put it: “That’s the way it was, May 25, 1944.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Ride of the Valkyries, from Die Walküre; New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra; Arturo Toscanini, conductor; Radio Years 71/72

John Philip Sousa (arr. Toscanini): Stars and Stripes Forever; New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra; Arturo Toscanini, conductor; Radio Years 71/72

On This Day

Births

• 1926 - American composer and jazz trumpet Miles Davis, in Alton, Illinois

Deaths

• 1934 - English composer Gustav Holst, 59, in London

Premieres

• 1715 - Handel: opera Amadigi di Gauli at the King’s Theater in London (Gregorian date: June 5)

• 1723 - Handel: opera Flavio, re de’ Langobardi (Julian date: May 14)

• 1870 - Delibes: ballet Coppelia at the Paris Opéra

• 1878 - Gilbert and Sullivan: H.M.S. Pinafore, at the Opera Comique Theatre in London; This production ran for 700 consecutive performances

• 1953 - Marc Blitzstein: musical The Harpies, at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City

• 1961 - Castelnuovo-Tedesco: opera Il Mercante di Venzia (The Merchant of Venice), at the Maggio Musicale Festival in Florence, Italy

• 1962 - Webern: Im Sommerwind (composed in 1904), at the First International Anton von Webern Festival at the University of Washington in Seattle

• 1984 - Stockhausen: opera Samstag von Licht (Saturday from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala

• 2001 - Philip Glass: Voices for pipe organ, two didgeridoos, clap sticks and narrator performed by didgeridoo virtuoso Mark Atkins, Calvin Bowman (organ), Ron Murray (second didgeridoo and clapsticks) and Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy Wandin (narrator) at City of Melbourne Town Hall to celebrate the refurbishment of the Melbourne (Australia) Town Hall Grand Organ.

• 2001 - Salonen: Fanfare for Betty, dedicated to 80-year old music patron, Betty Freeman, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with the composer conducting. See May 26-27 as well.

• 2001 - David Ward-Steinman: Millennium Dances, for percussion and orchestra, by soloist John Flood and the San Diego Symphony, Jung-Ho Pak conducting

Others

• 1869 - The newly completed Vienna Opera on the Ringstrasse opens with a production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (sung in German)

• 1944 - Arturo Toscanini conducts the combined NBC Symphony and New York Philharmonic in a benefit concert of music by Wagner, Verdi, and Sousa at the old Madison Square Garden. The concert raised $100,000 for the Red Cross. During an intermission auction, New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia auctioned off Toscanini’s baton for $10,000.