NBC Symphony Orchestra

Arturo Toscanini guided the NBC Symphony Orchestra through a period of renewed vigor in American symphonic performance. Assembled exclusively from elite instrumentalists, the group delivered weekly radio concerts that established unprecedented benchmarks for precision and artistry, captivating listeners nationwide during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Established in 1937 specifically to showcase the Italian maestro, whose distinguished résumé already featured leadership of La Scala in Milan and the New York Philharmonic, the ensemble benefited from his oversight at an age when most conductors had long stepped aside; Toscanini, then seventy, found these NBC years among the most inventive of his entire career.

The orchestra’s first broadcast occurred on Christmas night 1937 in Studio 8-H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Its roster read like a catalog of virtuosos, featuring violist William Primrose, violinist Edwin Bachmann, and timpanist Karl Glassman, with later additions including Milton Katims, Samuel Antek, Frank Brieff, Robert La Marchina, Harry Glantz, and many more. Critics and the public alike praised the live weekly programs, while Toscanini also directed the players in a sequence of acclaimed studio recordings. The partnership endured for seventeen seasons until the conductor, at eighty-seven, concluded his final appearance on April 4, 1951, closing one of the most distinguished chapters in broadcast orchestral history.