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Music Director, 1947–1948
Wherever Artur Rodziński hung his maestro’s hat during his conducting career there was an infusion of electricity into the life of the musical community along with a strong sense of controversy. The volatile Polish conductor became a national figure in American music when he began his famous series of Saturday afternoon concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra during the mid-1930s, which were broadcast coast to coast by Columbia Broadcast System. Despite this success, a cover story in Time revealed: “The Cleveland musicians came to respect but never to love their abusive foreman. There was no big farewell party when he left in 1943, and his welcome to New York [as music director of the Philharmonic] was open warfare: even before he hit town he had fired 14 players, including concertmaster Mishel Piastre.” Although in 1943 Rodzińksi was the original choice of the CSO trustees to replace Frederick Stock, it was not until 1947 that he was appointed the fourth music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Artur Rodziński rehearsing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall in 1947
Chicago Sun-Times
Vladimir Horowitz performed numerous times with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra between 1928 and 1986, once under the baton of Artur Rodzinski. The photographer has captured a moment during a rehearsal of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto in April 1948, when the famous pianist had enough of a pause in his music to turn and listen to the Orchestra.
Rodzinski captured the coveted cover of Time magazine when, in 1947, he left the New York Philharmonic to become music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At the time he exulted, “Since 21 years Chicago is my goal. It is a healthy city, like a young colt, full of concentrated power . . . New York will go down.”
This photo of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with music director Artur Rodzinski and Finnish assistant conductor Tauno Hannikainen — in Orchestra Hall on October 7, 1947 — reveals an interesting stage detail: a brocade or tapestry panel running most of the width of the back wall of the stage.
Oscar Chicago
Kirsten Flagstad’s performance as Isolde — her first operatic appearance in the United States since the end of World War II — was an extraordinary event. Claudia Cassidy of the Chicago Tribune praised Flagstad’s singing as “unforgettable” in its “blazing incandescence,” and proclaimed the event “the dawn of a new operatic day in Chicago.”
The Trapp Family Singers (Maria is pictured at the far left) appeared at Orchestra Hall on several occasions in the 1940s, including this holiday concert in 1947.
Chicago Tribune, February 8, 1947
Chicago Tribune, October 24, 1947
Chicago Tribune, January 14, 1948
These three headlines, appearing over the course of less than a year in the Chicago Tribune, encapsulate the Rodziński story in Chicago. His appointment was announced on February 7, 1947, and the first several concerts as music director were highly praised by Claudia Cassidy in October. But the hot-tempered conductor had numerous disagreements with management, and on January 14, 1948, the front-page headline was “Drop Symphony Conductor.” Even though Rodziński’s concert performances of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and Strauss’ Elektra were great successes, the operas were presented at a cost greatly exceeding the budget and at great sacrifice to the traditional concert schedule.
All images from the collections of the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association unless otherwise noted.
