Wanda Toscanini Horowitz Dies
Dave
>Horowitz's Daughter Dies at Age 90
>CHELSEA J. CARTER Associated Press Writer
>NEW YORK (AP) - Wanda Toscanini Horowitz, conductor Arturo Toscanini's daughter
>who nurtured and guarded her husband, Vladimir Horowitz, through his legendary but
>turbulent career as a piano virtuoso, has died. She was 90.
>``To be the daughter of Toscanini, I didn't have any merit because I could have been
>born to anybody,'' she once said. ``But to be the wife of Horowitz, in that I take a little
>bit of pride.''
---- ---- ---- ----
>Once she yelled at a reporter who asked about her life with Toscanini and Horowitz:
>``Don't talk to me about them. My father made me neurotic and my husband made me
>crazy.''
Does this mean we get more Toscanini and Horowitz performances
released? Or are there still heirs to plug the pipeline?
Dave
Matthew B. Tepper
davebo...@hotmail.com pondered what I'm pondering as follows:
Careful! With Wanda's death, the principal heir would seem to be
Walfredo, only son of AT's son Walter. And Walfredo is thought by some
collectors to be more like his father than like his aunts. It is
largely due to Walter that many of the live performances were dubbed,
rebroadcast, and distributed to collectors in the first place....
Like I've said: We should all write to Walfredo expressing sympathy in
his time of grief, so that he should know that we are part of the
audience which longs to hear these treasures.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
And my science fiction club's home page --- http://www.lasfs.org/
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
JP Piano
Horowitz estate is now under the control of Peter Gelb.
Joe P.
Esther Mott
her own memoirs would have been very interesting. I wonder why she
didn't write them, and if no one approached her to do so.
Esther Mott
Matthew B. Tepper
AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scott Fearing
True story: when asked about her life with Toscanini and Horowitz, she
shouted to the reporter,
"Don't talk to me about them. My father made me neurotic and my
Scott
--
Don Drewecki
Someone asked Wanda's daughter Sonia (who committed suicide in her 40s),
"What's it like to have such great musicians for family?" Sonia
answered, "I inherited dandruff from my grandfather, and spastic colitis
from my father."
--
Don Drewecki
<dre...@rpi.edu>
Jeremy Cook
Don Drewecki wrote in message <6ruld9$f...@cii3112-01.rcs.rpi.edu>...
>
>Someone asked Wanda's daughter Sonia (who committed suicide in her 40s),
>"What's it like to have such great musicians for family?" Sonia
>answered, "I inherited dandruff from my grandfather, and spastic colitis
>from my father."
Hmmm... I seem to recall that Sonia died at a relatively young age (16 or
so) in a motorbike accident. Horowitz's subsequent plunge into depression
was the start of his 12-year absence from the stage (ending with the 1965
Carnegie Hall "Historic Return" concert).
This would match the timing of his marriage to Wanda (December 1933) and the
start of his self-imposed exile from the stage (1953). Can anybody provide
some clarifying details?
Edward dimitri Kennaway
I don't think she was killed in the accident but lived on for many
years, in varying degrees of torment, eventually dying in about 1969,
if I remember rightly (haven't got the biogs to hand just now). There
had been some suggestion of suicide while in an institution AFAIK.
EDK
HenryFogel
as Orchestra Manager of the New York Philharmonic. In Sept. 1978, Horowitz was
scheduled to perform Rachmaninoff's 3rd Concerto with the NYP and Mehta -- the
first time he had ever played at Lincoln Center (in fact, I believe the first
time he ever played in New York outside of Carnegie Hall). He was very
concerned about sound, and which piano to use, and so eight days prior to the
concert (a Saturday afternoon) he came to Avery Fisher Hall to try various
pianos.
When he finally settled on his usual piano, he had it placed precisely where he
wanted it on stage -- which put the bench at the center of the stage and the
entire piano stage left (audience right). I had been assigned to be there just
to be certain everything went smoothly for Mr. Horowitz. I noted that with the
piano placed in that way, the NYP would have to reduce the number of cellos and
basses, because they wouldn't fit with the entire piano on one side of the
stage. I walked up to the pianist and said "Maestro, would you consider moving
the piano a bit to the stage right -- so that it wouldn't crowd one side of the
orchestra?" Horowitz immediately looked out in the hall for Wanda, and called
her to come up. "Yes, young man?" she said to me, asking me what I wanted. I
repeated the request. "Young man," she said, "you will find that the
Rachmaninoff sounds better without two or three cellos and basses than without
Mr. Horowitz." End of discussion. The piano, as you might guess, stayed (and
the orchestra was reduced a bit in the lower strings).
Henry Fogel
Carl Tait
HenryFogel <henry...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>[...] "Young man," [Wanda] said, "you will find that the Rachmaninoff
>sounds better without two or three cellos and basses than without
>Mr. Horowitz."
Great story, Henry; thanks!
(I hope you responded, "It would sound better yet without *Mrs.* Horowitz.")
--
Carl Tait IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
cdt...@us.ibm.com Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
Derek Haslam
Don Drewecki <dre...@rpi.edu> wrote:
> Someone asked Wanda's daughter Sonia (who committed suicide in her 40s),
> "What's it like to have such great musicians for family?" Sonia
> answered, "I inherited dandruff from my grandfather, and spastic colitis
> from my father."
According to the obituary in today's "Independent" (UK national newspaper)
she also said "My father made me neurotic and my husband made me crazy".
Derek
--
__ __ __ __ __
/ \ | ||__ |__)/ | | |_ Derek Haslam: Acorn Computer Enthusiast
\_\/ |__||__ | \\__ |__| __| dljh...@argonet.co.uk
\ Mastery of the rules is a pre-requisite for creatively breaking them.
Derek Haslam
Edward dimitri Kennaway <ken...@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
> On 25 Aug 1998 17:50:56, "Jeremy Cook" wrote:
> >
> >Don Drewecki wrote in message <6ruld9$f...@cii3112-01.rcs.rpi.edu>...
> >>
> >>"What's it like to have such great musicians for family?" Sonia
> >>answered, "I inherited dandruff from my grandfather, and spastic colitis
> >>from my father."
> >
> >
> >so) in a motorbike accident. Horowitz's subsequent plunge into depression
> >was the start of his 12-year absence from the stage (ending with the 1965
> >Carnegie Hall "Historic Return" concert).
> >This would match the timing of his marriage to Wanda (December 1933) and the
> >start of his self-imposed exile from the stage (1953). Can anybody provide
> >some clarifying details?
> I don't think she was killed in the accident but lived on for many
> years, in varying degrees of torment, eventually dying in about 1969,
> if I remember rightly (haven't got the biogs to hand just now). There
> had been some suggestion of suicide while in an institution AFAIK.
> EDK
The "Independent"'s obituary on Wanda states that Sonia died in 1974, aged
40, _as a result_ of injuries sustained in the motorbike accident.
HenryFogel
>From: ta...@news.cs.columbia.edu (Carl Tait)
>Date: 8/D/YYYY 1:32 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <6s1kcf$b...@dynasty.cs.columbia.edu>
>
>In article <199808261508...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
>HenryFogel <henry...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>[...] "Young man," [Wanda] said, "you will find that the Rachmaninoff
>>sounds better without two or three cellos and basses than without
>>Mr. Horowitz."
>
>Great story, Henry; thanks!
>
>(I hope you responded, "It would sound better yet without *Mrs.* Horowitz.")
>
>--
>Carl Tait IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
>
No, there are always in life those things one wants to say but doesn't. This
was certainly one of those incidents.
Henry Fogel
Esther Mott
Mr. Fogel,
Did Horowitz consider beneath himself to speak to you directly?
Esther Mott
HenryFogel
>Date: 8/D/YYYY 4:02 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <35E477...@eb.com>
My interpretation was that Mr. Horowitz did not like to deal with conflict of
any kind. He had no intention of moving the piano, but preferred to have
someone else inform me of that on the off chance that I might choose to try to
persuade him. I believe that he was not capable of the kind of abrupt response
that Wanda gave, a response that permitted no further discussion of the issue.
I also believe that he was used to having Wanda solve any problem that
confronted him, and my request was a problem.
There were other instances, during the days of rehearsal and performance of
that Rachmaninoff, in which Mr. Horowitz was quite pleasant and did converse
with me quite civilly. But those were small-talk moments, not moments where
there was an issue of conflict or disagreement.
Henry Fogel
Steve
consistent with Henry's estimation of the Horowitz psyche. To read it
is to get a full understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the
great man and his spouse, a great woman in her own right, who devoted
her life to the artist and his art. The many idiosyncracies he
displayed make it easy to understand why she said he made her crazy.
The book is now out of print but I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone
who can find it (perhaps in a local library).
Steve Wolk
ANicholls
>40, _as a result_ of injuries sustained in the motorbike accident.
>
>
& this also is wrong: Sonia's accident was in 1959, she committed suicide in
1974 at the age of 40. There's a possibility she had mental problems as a
result of the accident, but even before that she was a very troubled girl. (I
remember the Independent's obit of Horowitz had Rachmaninoff rebuking him for a
performance of the Rach/3, when the opposite was true).
The accident occurred at a time Horowitz was seriously thinking about returning
to the stage, & was working on his repertoire to that end. I have read (I think
in the Plaskin biog) that he extended his Carmen Variations to 'concert length'
(whatever that means) intending to perform them in public when he returned. It
was even said he recorded this work for RCA at the time, although no mention of
this has been made in any disocgraphy of un-issued recordings that I can
recall, & one would imagine that RCA would have rushed to issue something like
that. Now that Wanda's died, if this exists it's to be hoped that BMG will be
able to issue it along with the rest of the Private Recordings she apparently
embargoed.
Strange though: I've been looking forward to her 'passing' for ages. Now she's
gone I feel surprisingly sad...this really is the passing of an era, I
guess...
Mark
Don Drewecki
You know, I kinda feel sad, too. Anyone growing up under the spotlight
as she did, with a father who wasn't around and frequently cheated on
his wife, is bound to be screwed up somehow. That she stayed
married to a homosexual for all those years, and had a daughter who
eventually took her own life, I think Wanda may not have had it as easy
as I had always assumed, at least in her last years.
I should also add that, in 1995, Wanda OKd the legitimate
issue of Toscanini's complete rehearsals for the 1946 La Boheme
broadcast, to have been issued at the time of the opera's centenary.
That those recordings were not issued was the result of bureaucratic
incompetence at the New York Public Library, not Wanda. Even though she
did forbid the release of a lot of AT material in earlier years, she
did, finally, agree to that. Which means we must now write letters to
Robert Marx at the NYPL and ask why those haven't been issued yet.
As for Walfredo, I have an address for him but would rather not post it.
I would suggest that he might be contacted through Artec Consultants,
where I think he worked as an acoustical consultant for many years. I
don't have their address, however, but they may be on the web.
--
Don Drewecki
<dre...@rpi.edu>
Joe Salerno
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JP Piano <jpp...@aol.com> wrote in article
<199808240944...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...