Biographical Note
Artur Rodzinski was born in Spalato, Dalmatia (now Croatia) to Hermana Jozefa Rodzinski and Jadwiga Wiszniewski Rodzinska on January 2, 1892. Hermana, a Polish surgeon in the Austrian Army, was transferred to Lvov (formerly Lemberg and Lwów), Poland around 1897. Rodzinski's mother, Jadwiga, was a musician. At age 6, Rodzinski learned to play the piano and at age 15 was a page-turner during concerts in Lvov. In 1917, he served in the Austrian Army on the Russian front until he was wounded. After serving in the military, he married Ilse Reimesch, a German pianist. Rodzinski earned a law degree at the University of Vienna and took advanced musical classes at the Vienna Musical Academy with Joseph Marx and Franz Schreker in composition; Franz Schalk in conducting; and Emil von Sauer in piano. Returning to Lvov, he continued his music lessons with Jerzy Lalewicz. In 1918, Ilse gave birth to a son, Witold Rodzinski. To support his family, Rodzinski played the piano in a cabaret run by Marek Windheim and later as a piano accompanist for visiting singers and instrumentalists.
Rodzinski began as a choral conductor before making his debut as an orchestra conductor in 1920 at the Lwów Opera with Ernani. In 1921, he was employed with the Philharmonic in Warsaw (Filharmonia Narodowa) and became the first conductor of the Warsaw Opera (Teatr Wielki w Warszawie ). In the ensuing years, Rodzinski introduced Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Wolf-Ferrari’s I gioielli della madonna, and Ravel’s L’heure espagnole.
In November1925, Leopold Stokowski invited Rodzinski to visit Philadelphia, where he made his debut as a conductor in the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra on November 15, 1925. In 1926, Rodzinski was a guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and was later appointed assistant conductor with a signed contract through Concert Management Arthur Judson. Rodzinski made his debut in New York with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducting the premiere of a Miaskovski symphony. During the following three years in Philadelphia, he was in charge of the opera and orchestral departments of the Curtis Institute of Music, where Ilse taught piano.
Rodzenski left Philadelphia to become the director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1929. During the next three years in California, he guest conducted the Hollywood Bowl, the Young People’s Concert Series, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1933, Rodzinski became a United States citizen.
In September 1933, Rodzinski became the conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra for the next ten years. Under Rodzinski, the Cleveland Orchestra became a leading virtuoso ensemble as he directed important performances such as the American premiere of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mzensk District on June 31, 1935. Additionally, he conducted the Cleveland Orchestra for Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) national broadcasts and for Columbia Records sound recordings from 1939-42. During Rodzinski’s summer breaks, he often stayed at White Goat Farm in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, farming and raising goats. He would later sell his goats around 1941 to raise bees. In addition, during his breaks, Rodzinski worked as a guest conductor for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1934 and 1937. Other guest conductor positions between 1936-38 included the Salzburg Festival, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, appearances in Budapest, Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, and at Los Angeles’s Hollywood Bowl. He was the first American conductor to lead the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1937, upon Arturo Toscanni’s request, Rodzinski assembled and trained the National Broadcast Corporation’s (NBC) new symphony orchestra.
In 1934, Rodzinski divorced Ilse and married Halina Lilpop in Warsaw, Poland, on July 19th. In 1936, he was decorated with the Polonia Restituta by Count Potocki. He was awarded, in 1938, an honorary music degree from Oberlin College and a Diplôme d’Honneur in France for his program of Polish music at the Paris International Exposition. In 1940, the Polish Relief Concert requested Rodzinski’s services, which resulted in a free concert to support the war around 1942.
In December 1942, Rodzinski signed a contract to be the music director of the New York Philharmonic. He appointed Leonard Bernstein as his assistant conductor the following year. Rodzinski conducted broadcasts for CBS with the New York Philharmonic from 1944-46. On January 23, 1945, Halina gave birth to Rodzinski’s second son, Richard (Riki). In 1946, Rodzinski sold White Goat Farm to Arthur Percival and bought an old golf course in Lake Placid, New York. Renaming Chubb Hill to Riki Hill, after his son, he started building a house. After difficulties in the terms of renewing his contract, he resigned from the New York Philharmonic in February 1947.
Rodzinski spent the next eleven months as the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and opened their season at the Ravinia Festival on October, 7, 1947. In 1947, the film “Carnegie Hall,” was released. Rodzinski made a cameo appearance. In 1948, he directed Tristan, starring Kirsten Flagstad in her first concert in the United States after the war. Conflicts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s management would end Rodzinski last permanent position as a conductor.
After leaving Chicago, Rodzinski, often traveling with his family, served as a guest conductor in the United States, Latin America and Europe. In November 1948, Rodzinski suffered his first heart attack in London, which canceled his schedule until the winter of 1949. He gave a performance in Los Angeles before conducting the 1949-50 season of the Havana Symphony Orchestra. During mid-season break, he conducted at a spring festival in San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. The Havana Symphony Orchestra management asked Rodzinski to be their permanent conductor, but when the musicians disbanded, the conductor was without an orchestra. His next engagements, managed by Sociedad Musical Daniel, were in Argentina at the Teatro Colon, Uruguay and Brazil.
Sociedad Musical Daniel, using their European contact Felicitas Keller, arranged work for Rodzinski in Europe. In 1951, he debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, followed by concerts in Venice, Naples, Los Angeles and Panama. In January and February 1952, Rodzinski performed at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze. Later that year, he started recording for Radio Audizioni Italia (R.A.I.) broadcasts, which continued through 1958. Additionally, Rodzinski conducted at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze during the 1952 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. In September, Rodzinski performed at the Biennale di Venezia. He returned to New York to record with Remington Records for several weeks before returning to Florence, where he suffered an internal hemorrhage. Rodzinski recovered to conduct Prokofiev’s War and Peace at the 1953 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, which was the first time the opera was performed outside of Russia. After spending the summer in Lake Placid, he returned in September 1953 for a three month engagement in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo. During that time, Rodzinski also performed Wagner’s Tannhäuser in Florence. Programs followed in Brussels, Milan, Torino, and Rome.
In 1954, Rodzinski conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for the Westminster Recording Company. Additionally, he performed with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, on Radio Italiana di Roma broadcasts and at Teatro alla Scala. In September 1954, and again in 1956, Rodzinski recorded in London with Westminster. Upon his return to Italy, chest pains caused him to cancel his engagements until December 25, 1954. He then conducted the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra at the Teatro Argentina, but had to cancel the second program due to bronchitis. He recovered to perform in Florence, Rome, Torino, and with the R.A.I. ensemble.
During 1955-57, Rodzinski spent many hours performing on R.A.I. broadcasts between other concerts and resting. He conducted Tristan at the 1957 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. During September 1957, Rodzinski recorded with Electrical and Musical Industries, Ltd. (EMI) in London, but he then fell into a brief coma, an illness that caused him to reschedule the completion of the work. In April 12, 1958, Rodzinski conducted the annual concert for Pope Pius XII at the Vatican, sponsored by R.A.I. Rodzinski returned to the United States in September 1958. On November 10, 1958, Rodzinski gave his last performance of Tristan at the Chicago Lyric Opera. Just seventeen days later, on November 27, 1958, Rodzinski died of heart failure in Boston, Massachusetts.