Toscanini was on the verge of retirement at age 70 when RCA chairman
David Sarnoff asked him if he would like to conduct a radio orchestra
especially created and trained just for him. Toscanini, not wishing to
return to Fascist Italy because of possible personal harassment from Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini, chose to take up permanent residence in the U.S. and accepted the offer.Thus was born his incredible 17-year tenure with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, trained by
Artur Rodzinski, which enabled him to be heard by millions at once, and extended his career into the age
of LP records, television, hi-fi, and even two stereo recordings, the
first of which was not released until 1986 (the second was not released
in a stereo edition until January of 2007). Toscanini didn't retire
until 1954, when he was 87. He remained an Italian citizen all his
life, and was buried in Milan, Italy.
