"Look at him. He is one of your kind, gaunt like you. His head is carved in hard bone, between chin and forehead, with those deep hollows that form between ear and nose when he clenches his lips and jaw, with that frown that brings to mind the wild gaze of a swan beneath the swelling of its beak, with that neck that energy dilates as if to fill it with unspoken commands. Look at him. Look at his hand holding the scepter. His scepter is a wand as light as an elder rod; and it raises the great waves of the orchestra, releases the great torrents of harmony, opens the cataracts of the great river, digs the forces from the depths and carries them to the summit, restrains the tumults and reduces them to whispers, creates light and shadow, creates serenity and storm, creates mourning and jubilation… Who is he then? He is a Chief as I am a Chief, O my people."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Gabriele D'Annunzio, cited from Adriano Lualdi, D'Annunzio e la musica, in Piazza delle Belle Arti (Milan: Scuola tipografica Figli della Provvidenza, 1959)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arturo_Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini
1867 – 1957
italienischer Dirigent
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