Rivalry in Music: Furtwängler vs. Toscanini

Delve into the lives and careers of two of the greatest conductors of the 20th century… and the enmity between them. Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arturo Toscanini both left an indelible mark on the field of conducting—but in their approaches to art, life, and politics, they could hardly have been more different, as this engaging documentary explores.

In 1937, maestro Arturo Toscanini had been the preeminent figure at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival for several years running, but an imposing personality from across a cultural divide was about to challenge his dominance: Wilhelm Furtwängler, already a known quantity in the Third Reich. In Toscanini's dressing room, a bitter dispute developed between the two as the Italian accused the German of selling out to the fascist regime, but Furtwängler disagreed—for him, great music happened above and outside the realm of politics. While tracing the radically different trajectories of these two emblematic figures, this documentary examines the question, as pertinent today as ever, of the role of ethics in art.