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Walter Toscanini, Bibliophile and Collector, and the Cia Fornaroli Collection of The New York Public Library

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 28; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01472520500276138

1532-4257

Patrizia Veroli,

Theater, Performance, and Music History

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments My first contacts with Walter Toscanini's son, Walfredo, date back to the early 1990s, when I was reconstructing the Italian ballet history of the 1930s for my biography of the choreographer Aurel Milloss. On discovering the richness of the Toscanini private archive and the importance of the Cia Fornaroli Collection at the New York Public Library, I inevitably became involved in the Toscanini saga. In 1993 and 1995, thanks to the generosity of my old friends Sarai Sherman and David Jaffe, I could stay for many weeks in New York and meet Mr. Toscanini several times. One day he brought to the apartment where I was staying an old suitcase containing the dozens of letters exchanged between Walter and Cia from 1919 through the 1930s. It was for me an overwhelming trip into the past. Further research was made possible by a scholarship from the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, which in 1997 allowed me to work for two months in New York as a visiting fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University. Several of Walter's file cabinets and towering piles of yellowed material and old newspapers were moved into two offices of the Casa Italiana at Columbia University, where I could read much of Walter's notes and correspondence. Maristella de Panizza Lorch, a staunch enthusiast for Italian culture of any age and field, and the new director of the Casa Italiana, Richard Brilliant, both generously encouraged my research. I want to thank Walfredo Toscanini and the maestro's biographer, Harvey Sachs, for having been patiently available for years to answer my innumerable queries. Since 1997 Genevieve Oswald has contributed to my understanding of a truly unique researcher and donor, whose catalogued and uncatalogued treasures Madeleine Nichols and her staff at the now Jerome Robbins Dance Division have been ready to display special rarities to me on more than one occasion. I also want to thank Arthur M. Fierro for his additional insights and for his precious memories related to Walter's work on his father's legacy; his unfailing loyalty to Walter has included a painstaking care for this manuscript. Thanks also to Barbara Sparti for sharing a number of Walter's letters related to the "Giorgio" manuscript and to Carlo Marinelli Roscioni, a major Italian scholar in the field of theatrical chronologies of all eras. Finally my gratitude goes to José Sasportes, who in the late 1980s first aroused my attention to the importance of Italian dance throughout the centuries. His perspective on dance, so close indeed to Walter Toscanini's, is shown by the journal La Danza Italiana (1984–1990; 1998–99), of which he was the founding editor, and his generosity as a scholar has always been invaluable. Notes 1. For Cia's career in general, see Patrizia Veroli, Baccanti e dive dell'aria. Donne, danza e società 1900–1945 (Perugia: Edimond, 2001), pp. 243–68. 2. See Giovanni Gavazzeni, "La Bottega dei Toscanini" and "Bottega di Poesia. Le pubblicazioni," in Botteghe di editorial tra Montenapoleone e Borgospesso. Libri, arte e cultura a Milano 1920–1940, ed. Anna Modena (Milan: Biblioteca di via Senato/Electa/Fondazione Arnoldo e Alberto Mondadori, 1998), pp. 43–7 and 69–94. See also Patrizia Veroli, "Walter Toscanini e la Bottega di Poesia (1922–1924)," Terzo Occhio, Vol. 24, No. 2 (1998): pp. 9–14. 3. See C. d'Or [Carlo d'Ormeville], "I propositi della Bottega di Poesia," Gazzetta dei Teatri, September 30, 1920, p. 4, and the unsigned "Bottega di Poesia," Gazzetta dei Teatri, March 31, 1921, p. 3. 4. Walter Toscanini, letter to Cia Fornaroli, August 5, 1922. Walfredo Toscanini Archive, New Rochelle, New York (hereafter WTA). All translations mine. 5. "Toscanini's Son a Book Expert: Maestro's Son Is Amazed at Morgan Library. Priceless Jewels, He Says. Son of Orchestra Conductor Is Here on a Visit," New York Times, March 5, 1929. WTA. 6. Patrizia Veroli, "Enrico Cecchetti direttore della scuola di ballo del Teatro alla Scala," in Viaggio lungo cinque secoli, ed. José Sasportes and Patrizia Veroli (Rome: Bulzoni, 1998), pp. 107–22. 7. Susan Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1993), p. 152. 8. The list does not include any books. It was probably sent to the Archives Internationals de la Danse at the request of its curator and librarian, Pierre Tugal (AID 250, Bibliothèque de l'Opéra, Paris). 9. Beaumont, Cyril W. Complete Book of Ballets: A Guide to Principal Ballets of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1938), p. xxiv. 10. Walter Toscanini, letter to Cia Fornaroli, Milan, May 18, 1946. WTA 11. Ibid. 12. Stewart, On Longing, p. 152. 13. Walter Toscanini, letter to Irma Merolli Tondi, February 10, 1955. Copy, WTA. 14. John Martin, untitled article in The Fifth Annual Capezio Award, Honoring Genevieve Oswald, March 7, 1956, program booklet. 15. Genevieve Oswald, interview by the author, New York, 1997. The book in question was Raffaele Carrieri's La danza in Italia 1500–1900 (Milano: Editoriale Domus, 1955), whose rich iconography was largely drawn from Walter's collection. 16. Ibid. 17. Walter Toscanini, letter to Stefano Vittadini, December 17, 1954. Copy, WTA. 18. Press release, May 27, 1955. WTA 19. Walter Toscanini, letter to Genevieve Oswald, August 3, 1955. Copy, WTA. 20. Walter Toscanini, letter to Genevieve Oswald, July 30, 1956. Copy, WTA. 21. Walter Toscanini, letter to Bianca Maria Galanti, August 13, 1955 (WTA). "A Professor in 'Literature of Popular Traditions' at the University of Rome"; in 1942 Galanti published a monograph on the danza della spada, or sword dance. 22. Genevieve Oswald, letter to Walter Toscanini, November 23, 1955. WTA. 23. Walter Toscanini, letter to Genevieve Oswald, August 3, 1955. WTA. 24. Ibid. 25. Genevieve Oswald, interviews by author, New York, 1997 and 2004. 26. Genevieve Oswald, letter to Walter Toscanini, December 1, 1961. WTA. 27. Walter Toscanini, letter to Genevieve Oswald, April 17, 1962. Copy, WTA. 28. Genevieve Oswald, interview by author, New York, 1997. See also Lillian Moore, "The Dance: A Gift to the Library," New York Herald Tribune, June 26, 1955. WTA.