In this article we will delve into the fascinating world of Alfredo Antonini. Throughout history, Alfredo Antonini has played a crucial role in different aspects of society, from its impact on culture and traditions to its influence on economics and politics. We will explore the different approaches and perspectives that exist around Alfredo Antonini, as well as its evolution over time. This topic offers us the opportunity to reflect and understand the importance of Alfredo Antonini in our lives and in the world around us.
Alfredo Antonini (May 31, 1901 – November 3, 1983) was a leading Italian-American symphony conductor and composer who was active on the international concert stage as well as on the CBS radio and television networks from the 1930s through the early 1970s. In 1972 he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Religious Programming on television for his conducting of the premiere of Ezra Laderman's opera And David Wept for CBS television during 1971. In addition, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1980
Antonini was born in Alessandria and pursued his musical studies at the Royal Conservatory in Milan. He was a student of the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, whom he first met at the age of thirteen while performing on the celesta in the Italian premier of Igor Stravinsky's Petrouchka. He distinguished himself as both an organist and pianist with La Scala Orchestra in Milan prior to emigrating to the United States in 1929. His musical talents were shared by his father who served as a member of the Buenos Aires Opera company at the Teatro Colón after leaving Italy for Argentina. In addition, his wife Sandra was a both a piano accompanist and voice teacher.
His performances with the CBS Pan American Orchestra were noteworthy for helping to introduce Latin American music and the Mexican bolero to large audiences in the United States.
The 1940s: Radio
During the 1940s Antonini conducted live radio broadcasts of the program Viva America on the CBS Radio and La Cadena de las Americas (Network of the Americas) in collaboration with several international artists including: Nestor Mesta Chayres (aka "El Gitano De Mexico"),Terig Tucci, Juan Arvizu (aka "El Troubador de las Americas"), Elsa Miranda ,Eva Garza,Kate Smith,Pat O'Brien, and John Serry. He also appeared with Chayres and the New York Philharmonic in the Night of the Americas Concert series at Carnegie Hall., which, according to The New York Times, was eagerly anticipated by the general public. Additional performances in collaboration with Arvizu and the CBS Tipica Orchestra for the Inter-America Music Fiesta at Carnegie Hall also attracted widespread acclaim.
In 1946, Antonini recorded several popular Latin American songs on the album Latin American Music - Alfredo Antonini and Viva America Orchestra for Alpha Records (catalogue #'s 12205A, 12205B, 12206A, 12206B) including: Tres Palabras (Osvaldo Farres), Caminito de Tu Casa (Julio Alberto Hernández), Chapinita (Miguel Sandoval) and Noche De Ronda (Augustin Lara). Critical review of the albums in The New Records praised his conducting talents and hailed the collection as among the best new albums of Latin American music.
External image
Photograph of Alfredo Antonini conductor CBS Pan American Orchestra on "Viva America" for CBS Radio in 1946 Here on Getty images
At the close of the decade in 1948, Antonini also appeared as the conductor in the premier program of the CBS Symphony Summer Series which was broadcast live over the CBS Radio network. During this time he also collaborated with leading orchestral musicians including Julius Baker, and Mitch Miller. Several of his performances with the CBS Symphony Orchestra were also broadcast over the Voice of America network in 1948 and 1949. In addition, his recordings with the operatic vocalists Juan Arvizu and Nestor Mesta Chayres were transcribed during this time for broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Network.
The 1950s: Opera
During the 1950s, Antonini was a professor of music at St. John's University, located in Brooklyn, New York. He taught the Music Appreciation course. As a musical director for CBS Television during the 1950s, he was instrumental in presenting a program of classical and operatic music to the general public. His collaboration with Julie Andrews, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein II in a production of Cinderella for CBS television was telecast live in color on 31 March 1957 to an audience of 107 million. During this decade, he also appeared with several noted operatic sopranos including: Eileen Farrell and Beverly Sills. Later in 1957, he became the musical director/conductor of the Tampa Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1951 he also served as both the orchestra leader and the Choral leader for the CBS Radio program Music Land U.S.A which featured talented vocalists. Included on the broadcast were Lois Hunt, Earl Wrightson and Thomas Hayward. These performances by the Alfredo Antonini Orchestra were included among several transcriptions of Antonini's work which were selected for broadcast to America's armed forces throughout the world by the Armed Forces Radio Network Service during the 1940's and 1950's.
Antonini served as a conductor of the open-air summer concerts held at the landmark Lewisohn Stadium in New York City during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He appeared at least once during each season while featuring leading talent from the Metropolitan Opera. His appearances with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Lewisohn Stadium Orchestra during the series of Italian Night concerts frequently attracted audiences which exceeded 13,000 guests. These performances featured arias from the standard Italian operatic repertoire and showcased such operatic luminaries as: Jan Peerce, Eileen Farrell, Richard Tucker, Beverly Sills, Licia Albanese,Eva Likova,Robert Weede,Cloe Elmo and Robert Merrill.
Antonini’s work with CBS soon led to television work as that medium came to prominence in the 1950s. He composed half the scores and led the CBS Orchestra in performances for the popular documentary series, The Twentieth Century (1957-66). He conducted the CBS Orchestra on the American Musical Theater documentary series (1959) which also featured Robert Weede and Laurel Hurley.
Other early network credits included the long-running ecumenical religious program, Lamp Unto My Feet, and specials such as Cinderella and The Fabulous Fifties.
Antonini continued to collaborate as a guest conductor with instrumental soloists, including Benny Goodman in 1960 for a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto at Lewisohn Stadium. In addition, he conducted the Symphony of the Air in the live prime-time television special Spring Festival of Music for CBS Television. This collaboration with the pianist John Browning and the producer Robert Herridge showcased a performance of a movement from Sergie Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. The performance was noted for its musical excellence as well as its dramatic visual presentation on television.
In addition to performing as a conductor on WOR radio in New York City during the 1940s, he appeared as a guest conductor for leading symphonic orchestras in Chicago, Milwaukee, Oslo, Norway and Chile during the 1950s. During this time he also founded the Tampa Philharmonic Orchestra in Tampa, Florida, which eventually merged into the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony. In the 1960s, Antonini also appeared as a guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic at Philharmonic Hall during a grand opera benefit concert which featured the artistry of Jan Peerce and Robert Merrill. Throughout the 1960s he continued to collaborate with such operatic luminaries as Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill,Franco Corelli, Nicolai Gedda, Giorgio Tozzi, Gabriella Tucci, and Dorothy Kirsten in a variety of gala concerts. He also performed with Roberta Peters at the Lewisohn Stadium at City College.
In 1971, Antonini served as musical director on the CBS Television premier of Ezra Laderman's opera And David Wept, earning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Religious Programming (1972). He collaborated in this premier production with such operatic luminaries as Sherrill Milnes, Rosalind Elias, and Ara Berberian. Several years later, in 1975, he joined forces once again with Berberian and mezzo-soprano Elaine Bonazzi for the CBS television movie, A Handful of Souls.
Antonini's collaborations at CBS Television extended beyond the realm of opera to include prominent figures from several professions including:
Alfredo Antonini died at the age of 82 during heart surgery in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983. He was buried in Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park cemetery in Clearwater and was survived by his wife Sandra and a son.
Atmosphere By Antonini - Alfredo Antonini and His Orchestra, Coral Records (LVA 9031), 33PRM LP, 1956
Romantic Classics, SESAC Records, 33 RPM LP, 195?
Aaron Copland/Hugo Weisgall/Alfredo Antonini - Twelve Poems of Emily Dickenson, Columbia Masterworks (ML 5106), 33 RPM LP, 1956
Songs from Sunny Italy - Richard Tucker with Alfredo Antonini Conducting the Columbia Concert Orchestra, Columbia Masterworks (ML 2155), 33 RPM LP, 1950
Alfredo Antonini and His Orchestra - Dances of Latin America, London Records (LPB.294), 33 RPM LP, 1950
Alfredo Antonini & The Columbia Concert Orchestra, soloist Richard Tucker, Columbia Masterworks (A-1540), 45 RPM, 195?
Nestor Chayres Singing Romantic Songs of Latin America, Alfredo Antonini conductor, Decca, 78 RPM, 1947
Juan Arvizu, Troubador of the Americas, Alfredo Antonini conductor, Columbia Records (#36663), 1941 78 RPM, 1941
Latin American Music - Alfredo Antonini and Viva America Orchestra, Alfredo Antonini conductor of the Viva America Orchestra, Elsa Miranda vocalist, Alpha Records (#12205) 78 RPM, 1946
Richard Tucker: Just For You with Alfredo Antonini and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Masterworks (A-1619-1), 45 RPM,195?
Bolero - No Me Lo Digas (Maria Grever), vocalist Nino Martini, Columbia (#17202-D), 194?
External audio
You may listen to Alfredo Antonini with Juan Arvizu and John Serry Sr. performing Vival Sevilla, Mi Sarape, Que Paso?, El Bigote de Tomas, De Donde? in 1942 here
Selected scores of compositions by Alfredo Antonini broadcast on the CBS television network are archived within the CBS Collection of Manuscript Scores 1890–1972 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York City, New York.
Selected sound recordings featuring Alfredo Antonini conducting the CBS Symphony Orchestra for Voice of America are archived at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York City, New York.
Selected concert programs, musical scores, scrape books and business documents by Alfredo Antonini are archived online at the New York Philharmonic - Shelby White and Leon Levy Digital Archives.
Professional affiliations
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ASCAP (1948)
References
^The New York Times, July 2, 1948, pg. 24[title missing]
^The New York Times, October 5, 1948, pg. 30[title missing]
^The New York Times, April 25, 1957, pg. 34[title missing]
^The New York Times, February 12, 1960, pg. 22[title missing]
^Anthony, Edwin D. (1973). "Records of the Radio Division"(PDF). Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs. Vol. Inventory of Record Group 229. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Record Services - General Services Administration. pp. 1–8, 25–26. LCCN73-600146.
^Media Sound & Culture in Latin America & the Caribbean (eds Bronfman, Alejandra & Wood, Andrew Grant). University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2012, p. 49 https://books.google.com See p. 49. Accessed 29 December 2022.
^The New Records. Latin American Music - Alfredo Antonini and Viva America orchestra H. Royer Smith Co., Philadelphia, PA, Vol. 14, No. 8 October 1946, pp. 6-7
^Stern, Jonathan. Music of the (American) People: The Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium, 1922-1964. The City University of New York (CUNY) - Graduate Center, New York, 2009 pp. 204-205 Alfredo Antonini guest conductor on academicworks.cuny.edu. Accessed 29 December 2022.
^American Aria Encore Sherrill Milnes. Amadeus Press, New York 2007 pp. 242-243; ISBN978-157-467160-5 Sherrill Milnes and Alfredo Antonini collaborating in "And David Wept".
^Margaret Ross Griffel.
Operas in English, Scarecrow Press, UK2013 p. 19; ISBN978-0-8108-8272-0 "'And David Wept' premiered on CBS Television in 1971 with Sherrill Milnes and Ara Berberian"], books.google.com. Accessed 29 December 2022.
^Television Specials Vincent Terrace. McFarland and Co, North Carolina 2013, p. 148; ISBN978-0-7864-7444-8 "The Fabulous Fifties" Credits: Alfredo Antonini and Betty Comden.
^Television Specials Vincent Terrace. McFarland and Co, North Carolina 2013, p. 148; ISBN978-0-7864-7444-8 "The Fabulous Fifties" Credits: Alfredo Antonini and Jackie Gleason .