This article features the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini on stamps. Of course, musicians of all types are popular topics on stamps. This includes classical composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and others. In addition, there are many popular musicians across genres on stamps, including all of those on the Legends of American Music Series.
Musicians can be figures that excite the public and make them proud of their culture and heritage. They are seldom controversial figures and instead, can unify diverse peoples around the love and enjoyment of music. This does not mean musicians are not political. For example, you can read about how Smetana and Dvorak created a Czech national music here. However, using musicians on stamps is an effective way of creating a national unity.
What is interesting about the Arturo Toscanini US stamp from 1989, is that it celebrates a musician born in a different country. Typically, a country will celebrate a famous musician that is a “favorite son” (or daughter, though too rarely). It is unusual, then, that Toscanini, an Italian by birth, would appear on a US stamp.
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was born in the city of Parma in northern Italy in 1867. He was a cellist and won a scholarship to a local music conservatory. Toscanini’s skill led to him winning a place in the orchestra of an opera company, which in 1886 when on a South America tour. This was an event that changed the course of Toscanini’s life.
In Rio de Janeiro the company was presenting Aida under the baton of a local conductor, Leopoldo Miguez. However, the performers were furious with the conductor, who was ill prepared to lead the major work. The singers went on strike to protest his leadership. Following two other unsuccessful conductors, the singers suggested Toscanini, who had been acting as an assistant chorus master. Due to his eidetic memory, Toscanini had the entire opera memorized.
The performance was a fantastic success and the audience loved Toscanini’s charisma and musicianship. Toscanini continued to conduct through the tour, another eighteen operas. HIs conducting career had taken off and he was still only nineteen years old.
Upon returning to Italy, Toscanini continued to play cello in the orchestra as well as pursued opportunities to conduct. This led him to play cello in the world premiere of Verdi’s Otello at La Scala in Milan with Verdi conducting. Meanwhile, his first conducting appearance was at the Teator Carignano in Turin, presenting the premiere of a revision of Alfredo Catalani’s Edmea. In 1898, he was the conductor of 43 concerts in Turin. His success led him to become the principal conductor of the famous La Scala theater in Milan in that same year, a post he held until 1908.
Moving to the United States
Toscanini’s reputation as a foremost interpreter of the opera repertoire gradually spread throughout Europe and to the United States. This led to his appointment in 1908 as the principal conductor at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His seven seasons at The Met helped to establish that opera house as equal to any in Europe and introduced many standards that continue today.
Toscanini was also known as an orchestral conductor. For instance, after another stint as the music director of La Scala in the early 1920s, Toscanini became the conductor for the New York Philharmonic from 1926 until 1936. However, his greatest fame came in 1937 when he became the conductor for the newly created NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducting its first broadcast on Christmas Day.
Over the next seventeen years, Toscanini led this orchestra in recordings, broadcasts, and tours throughout the world. Although originally the orchestra played on the radio, it would later also broadcast on television. Toscanini became one of the most famous musicians in the world. Millions of people heard or saw his performances. In 1954, he retired from the orchestra at the age of 87 and the orchestra was disbanded. Arturo Toscanini died in 1957 at the age of 89 in his home in New York City.
Italian Stamp
Scott Number IT 948
The first postage stamp honoring Arturo Toscanini was from Italy in 1967, ten years after his death, celebrating the centennial of his birth. The stamp is in blue, with a haunting visage of Tosanini’s face and hand (with his ever present baton) emerging in an orangey-skin tone from a dark blue background. The design for the stamp was by R. Ferrini and the printing was by the IPS officina carte valori. The stamp has the denomination of forty lire.
American Stamp
Scott number US 2411
Toscanini’s adopted country of the United States created a stamp honoring him in 1989. The stamp was part of a performing arts series and features a multi-color image of Toscanini, once again showing his full face and his hand and a baton. While a similar design, the stamp is much cheerier than the earlier Italian stamp. Jim Sharpe was the designer of the stamp and the dedication for the stamp took place at Carnegie Hall on March 25, 1989. It bears the denomination of twenty-five cents.
Fred Collins Cachet
I also have a beautiful hand-decorated cachet with a first day of issue cancellation. The overall image is drawn in ink, then watercolors are hand-painted to complete the work. On this envelope, the design is vertical instead of the typical horizontal orientation. The stamp is in the lower right corner. The famous conductor is in the center of the stamp, facing to his right, in the middle of conducting, his right hand holding a baton, his left motioning to the orchestra. Behind him you can see the beauty of an opera hall, with rows of boxes ascending to the ceiling where a glorious chandelier is hung.
In the foreground, members of the orchestra are sitting on risers playing from a musical score. They range from a violinist in the front, through the brass section, with bass players and a timpanist in the back. This is not a realistic view – seeing both Toscanini’s face and the orchestra, but it is very effective for the decoration of this cachet.
Fred Collins began making hand decorated cachets in 1978 and is well known throughout the philatelic community for his specialized pieces. He makes a new design for each U.S. stamp issue and limits the run of his designs to a few hundred. You can see more of his work on his website.
Wonderfully, because of Toscanini’s association with the NBC orchestra, there are many audio and video recordings of him conducting. Here he is leading a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony:
