Guido Cantelli

Guido Cantelli (27 April 1920 – 24 November 1956) was an Italian orchestral conductor. He was named Musical Director of La Scala, Milan in November 1956 but his promising career was cut short only one week later by his death at the age of 36 in an airplane crash in Paris, France.[1]

17 November 1956, Teatro Coccia in Novara

Biography

Born in Novara, Italy, in 1920, Cantelli studied at the Milan Conservatory and began a promising conducting career, which was interrupted by World War II, during which he was forced to serve in the Italian army, then placed in a German labor camp because of his outspoken opposition to the Nazis. He became ill and managed to escape the camp. He resumed his musical career after the Allies liberated Italy.

Arturo Toscanini saw Cantelli conduct at La Scala, Milan and was so impressed that he invited him to guest conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1949. In a note written to Cantelli's wife Iris in 1950 after four of these concerts, Toscanini said:

I am happy and moved to inform you of Guido's great success and that I introduced him to my orchestra, which loves him as I do. This is the first time in my long career that I have met a young man so gifted. He will go far, very far.[2]

In the course of his brief career, he had conducted not only in many of the most famous concert halls of Europe but also in the United States and South Africa. Besides conducting the NBC Symphony from 1949 to 1954, Cantelli also guest conducted the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. and the Philharmonia Orchestra in the UK.

He was named Musical Director of La Scala on 16 November 1956, but he died in the crash of LAI Flight 451 at Orly Airport in Paris, France only a week later, on 24 November.[3] He was 36 years old. Toscanini, who was in failing health and died less than two months later, was not informed of Cantelli's death.

At the time of his death, Cantelli was being considered as the next music director of the New York Philharmonic, as successor to Dimitri Mitropoulos; instead, Leonard Bernstein (who also guest conducted the NBC Symphony)[4] was appointed conductor of the Philharmonic in 1958.[5]

Performances and recordings

Cantelli left a small legacy of commercial and live recordings. Among these are recordings of Beethoven's 7th symphony (ASD 254) and 5th piano concerto (with Walter Gieseking and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Carnegie Hall from 25 March 1956), Symphony No. 29 (Mozart) on HMV's ALP 1461,Schubert's 8th symphony (ALP 1325), Brahms' 1st (ALP 1152) and 3rd symphonies (BLP 1083), Franck's D minor symphony (ALP 1219 mono issue) (with the NBC Symphony in Carnegie Hall in stereo from 6 April 1954),[6] Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Paul Hindemith's Symphony: Mathis der Maler, Liszt's 2nd piano concerto with Claudio Arrau, and shorter pieces by Ravel (ALP 1207), Rossini, and others. He recorded Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the New York Philharmonic for Columbia Records.

His one surviving opera performance is of Così fan tutte, from La Scala in 1956. There is also a live recording of the Verdi Requiem (with Herva Nelli). He conducted the Mozart Requiem at La Scala in 1950. There are live recordings with the New York Philharmonic of Beethoven's first and fifth piano concertos, with Rudolf Serkin as soloist, from 1953 and 1954, respectively.

The Franck, Brahms 3rd, Schubert 8th, and Beethoven 7th symphonies were among his few stereo recordings. Just before his death, Cantelli recorded the final three movements of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in stereo for EMI, but did not record the first movement, due to a construction project outside London's Kingsway Hall. In recent years, many performances from broadcasts and recording sessions with the NBC Symphony, from 1949 to 1954, have been made available.

There is a film clip of Cantelli conducting the final moments of Rossini's overture to Semiramide.

References
  1. Accident description for I-LEAD at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 2017-26-5.
  2. Sachs, Harvey, Toscanini, New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1978. ISBN 0-397-01320-5
  3. Accident description for I-LEAD at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 2014-11-1.
  4. Frank, Mortimer H. (2002). Arturo Toscanini. google.com. ISBN 9781574670691. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  5. "Guido Cantelli". MP3.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  6. "Guido Cantelli, Franck, NBC Symphony Orchestra - Guido Cantelli conducts Franck symphony in D Minor; NBC Symphony Orchestra; 1978 Vinyl LP - Amazon.com Music". amazon.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
Cultural offices
Preceded by
Carlo Maria Giulini		 Musical Directors, La Scala, Milan
1956		 Succeeded by
Claudio Abbado
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