Artur Rodziński

Artur Rodziński (January 1, 1892 – November 27, 1958) was a Polish conductor.

Biography

Rodziński was born of Polish parents in Spalato, Dalmatia, today's Split, Croatia. He grew up in Lwów, Galicia, now part of Ukraine, where he studied law at the University of Lwów. In 1914, his father sent his family to Vienna, where Artur continued to study law, as well as enrolling in the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. In 1916, he received his doctorate in law. Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it was rud-JEEN'-skee.

After World War I ended in 1918, he moved to back to Lwów, then in Poland, where he found work as a conductor, making his debut conducting the opera Ernani. In 1920, he moved to the Grand Theater in Warsaw.

He then moved to the United States, working as assistant conductor to Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia from 1925 to 1929. His next move took him to California, where he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic for four years. From 1933 to 1943, he was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra. Under his leadership this formerly regional ensemble rose to national prominence. During his tenure in Cleveland he also conducted a number of fully-staged opera productions with the orchestra including Der Rosenkavalier with Lotte Lehmann and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

Rodziński then became music director of the New York Philharmonic, where he remained until 1947. In New York Rodziński reached the peak of his career and fame. He made headlines by controversially replacing many of the famed orchestra's leading players, but his performances were widely acclaimed. With the Philharmonic Rodziński reached a national audience, his crisp, brilliant style becoming familiar to audiences through his many records and weekly live broadcasts on CBS Radio. Rodziński and the Philharmonic were also seen in the Hollywood film Carnegie Hall in 1947. At the time of his resignation from his New York post Rodziński was so prominent, having conducted three of America's most prestigious orchestras in succession, that he received significant media coverage, including a Time magazine cover story.

Rodziński was known for his ability to quickly rebuild and improve the quality of an orchestra in a short period of time. Based on this reputation he was engaged in 1937 by David Sarnoff of RCA to recruit and assemble the famed NBC Symphony Orchestra for Arturo Toscanini. Indeed it was Rodziński who conducted the NBC's very first public performance prior to Toscanini's debut with the orchestra.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra engaged him as music director in 1947-48. He recorded with the orchestra for RCA Victor and conducted an historic production of Tristan und Isolde with Kirsten Flagstad while in Chicago. But sadly Rodziński's conflicts with the CSO's management and musicians caused him to resign after only one season.

During his remaining years Rodziński was a highly sought-after guest conductor. In London he made a large number of recordings for both Westminster Records and EMI. Returning to opera, he conducted noted productions of Tristan in Florence with the young Birgit Nilsson and again in Chicago with Flagstad, his final performance. Fraught with ill health throughout his career, Rodziński succumbed to a heart attack and died in 1958 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Family

Rodziński was married twice and had two sons. He married the concert pianist Mme. Ilse in 1917 and they had a son, Witold. Following a divorce he was married to Halina Wieniawski in 1934. Their son Richard was artistic administrator at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1970's and 1980's. In 1976 Halina Rodzinski wrote an autobiography, Our Two Lives, which is still the most extensive published account of Rodziński's life and career.

Recordings

Rodziński recorded for Columbia Records (with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic); RCA Victor (with the Chicago Symphony); Westminster Records (the Royal Philharmonic); and EMI. A few of his later recordings were taped in stereo and have remained in circulation to this day. His complete recording of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker for Westminster was recorded in stereo in 1955, but released on LP only in mono. The stereo version was originally released as a 2-track reel-to-reel audio tape recording and then finally was made available on compact disc.

References

Bibliography

• Rodzinski, Halina (1976). Our Two Lives. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.