According to Arturo Toscanini, ‘any asino can conduct, but to make music is difficile’.
According to Arturo Toscanini, ‘any asino can conduct, but to make music is difficile’. The technical side of conducting did not appeal to Carlo Maria Giulini, the subject of Thomas Saler’s highly illuminating biography. He was an immensely spiritual man, ‘an old-fashioned poet in a world of ego- maniacs and prosaic technicians’ in the words of Martin Bernheimer. In many ways the two maestri were polar opposites, Giulini (who died in 2005) being a gentle aristocratic in demeanour, while Toscanini behaved like an irascible bulldog.
Giulini’s spirituality was certainly not wishy-washy and Saler indicates that the themes of his religion — ‘that we are uplifted by suffering; it is only through giving that we receive’ — permeated his performances. ‘He exuded an almost saintly aura which sooner or later was transmitted to his audiences’ , wrote Donald Henahan in the New York Times. Giulini was sent to the front in Croatia to fight the Yugoslav partisans in 1940:
A pacifist with a deep hatred for Mussolini and the fascists, Carlo had made a pact with his two brothers, Seno and Alberto, that they would not kill under any circumstances.
He asked:
How is it possible to live without faith . . . to think that inside the human body there is no soul? I can only tell you I have this gift of faith.
He had no idea how to write a cheque and had zero talent for admin. His wife Marcella did everything practical. He was not, however, wafting around on clouds all the time. Saler tells us that he indulged his passion for football, in particular Juventus. He was distraught when Marcella suffered a stroke in 1980, and even more so when she died 15 years later.
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