Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman

The title is quite misleading as this fifty five minute biopic barely qualifies for a sketch. Simply put, too much important stuff is left out. Let's start with that "doctor" in the title character's name. Doctor of what, exactly? Musicology, presumably, but with what specialization? From what institution? And beyond a single, cryptic line about having an unhappy childhood we get nothing about Antonia's upbringing. Why unhappy? Who was her father? Mother? Siblings, if any? What about the important people in her life beyond Al Schweitzer? Any husbands? Wives? Partners? Great friends? Enemies (other than a cartoonish Jose Iturbi)? Anyhow, you get the picture. Somewhat thin gruel for a satisfying meal. Still, I liked it well enough and found Dr. Brico engaging enough in her combination of anger, orneriness, wistfulness and humor to Google her. Give it a C plus.

While the press goes on about the Oscars and Bradley Cooper's twelve nominations for his movie about Leonard Bernstein, the first American conductor of any note, I looked at this series of interviews of Antonia Brisco, the first major woman conductor. She talks about her struggles to get to conduct at all, her forming an all-woman orchestra to get the job done, her encounters with Stokowski an studying under Albert Schweiter, and ends with what I call a Sophie Tucker medley; unlike my great-aunt Esther, she played it on the piano instead of the accordion. Although she was trained on the piano, she claims her instrument is the orchestra.