Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957)
Italian conductor, internationally recognized as one of the world's great conductors. He studied cello at the Parma Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1885. After performing as a cellist with various minor orchestras in Italy, he went to Rio de Janeiro in 1886 to play in the opera orchestra there. Substituting as conductor, he demonstrated his ability to elicit an electrifying performance from the musicians, and he was engaged for the rest of the season.
Toscanini returned to Italy the next season (1886–87), and there subsequently conducted the premieres of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1892) and Puccini's La Bohème (1896) and the Italian premiere of Wagner's Götterdämmerung (1895). In 1898, Toscanini was appointed chief conductor and artistic director at La Scala, Milan, where he presented many new operas and the Italian premieres of many others, including Wagner's Die Meistersinger (1898) and Siegfried (1899).
From 1908 to 1914 he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, where he gave American premieres of Puccini's Girl of the Golden West (1910), Wolf-Ferrari's Le donne curiose (1912), and other works. Toscanini returned to Italy during World War I. With the reorganized La Scala Orchestra he toured (1920–21) Europe and the United States and was artistic director of La Scala from 1921 to 1929. Upon his return to the United States, he conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1928 to 1936 and the NBC Symphony Orchestra, which was formed for him, from 1937. His other important engagements included the Bayreuth Festivals (1930, 1931), of which he was the first non-German conductor, the Salzburg Festivals (1934–36), and the Lucerne Festivals (1937–39). In 1936 he conducted the inaugural concert of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra in Tel Aviv. Consistently antifascist, he refused several times to appear in fascist countries. In 1954 he retired as conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
Toscanini commanded perfection from his orchestras and instilled them with remarkable energy. A tempestuous personality, he was nevertheless greatly respected by performers and was widely emulated by conductors. His artistry is preserved in recordings, notably of the symphonies of Beethoven and works by Brahms, Wagner, Verdi, and many others.
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Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo (born April 25, 1927 in France) is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. He is best known for his work on the Astérix books, but also drew other comics such as Oumpah-pah, also in collaboration with René Goscinny.
Uderzo was born in Normandy, but his parents had recently moved from Italy. His name comes from the Italian village called Oderzo (formerly called Uderzo), where his family tree can be traced. His childhood ambitions were to become an aircraft mechanic, despite his talents in art at an early age. He was actually born colour-blind, and was born with two extra fingers (which were surgically removed). His sight has since greatly improved.
During WWII, the teen-aged Uderzo left Paris and spent a year in Brittany in the west of France, where he was working on a farm and helped with his father's furniture business. Many years later when a location for Asterix's village was to be decided, Goscinny left the decision entirely up to Uderzo, who had little hesitation in choosing Brittany.
Uderzo was starting a successful career as an artist in Paris after the war in 1945, with creations such as Flamberge and also Clopinard, a small one-legged old man who triumphs against the odds. In 1947-48 he created some other comics, such as Belloy and Arys Buck.
Throughout some more creations and travelling for the next few years, he eventually met Rene Goscinny 1951. The pair became good friends very soon, and decided to work together in 1952 at the newly opened Paris office of the Belgian company, World Press. Their first creation was Jehan Pistolet. In 1958 they began work on Oumpah-pah (until 1962), as well as a few other series. In 1959 Goscinny and Uderzo became editor and artistic director (respectively) of Pilote magazine, a new venture aimed at older children. The magazine's first issue introduced Asterix to the French world, and it was an instant hit.
Asterix was presented as a serial in Pilote, but in 1961 the duo published the first album, Asterix the Gaul, as an individual album. By 1967, the comic had become so popular that both decided to wholly dedicate their time to the series. Ever since Goscinny's tragic death in 1977, Uderzo has been writing and illustrating the books on his own, at a much slower pace (about one album every 3-5 years now, compared to 2 albums per year when working with Goscinny). The main credit on the cover still says "Goscinny and Uderzo".
In 1985, Uderzo was awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honour.
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