Hymn of the Nations
About Hymn of the Nations
Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony, tenor Jan Peerce, and the Westminster Choir in Verdi's Inno delle nazioni. He changes the Italian anthem line from 'Italia, patria mia' to 'mi patria tradita,' and he adds The Star-Spangled Banner and The Internationale. Burgess Meredith narrates. The performance was filmed in NBC Studio 8H for an Office of War Information short about Italian Americans and the Allies.
Cast & crew
More about Hymn of the Nations
Alexander Hammid directed. Irving Lerner produced. Boris Kaufman photographed it. Toscanini recorded the performance in December 1943. The original title is Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations. The release cut runs 31 minutes. The Internet Archive identifier is gov.fdr.127.
Themes
Background
The Office of War Information released it in 1944, after the fall of Mussolini, as a film about Italian Americans and the Allied war. Toscanini, who had refused to conduct under Fascism, changed the Italian lyric to 'my betrayed fatherland.'
Making
The OWI commissioned the short in late 1943 and shot Toscanini, Peerce, and the Westminster Choir in the NBC studio Toscanini already used for broadcasts.
Look
Boris Kaufman photographed the concert in NBC Studio 8H.
Music
Giuseppe Verdi's Inno delle nazioni, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with his own bridge into The Star-Spangled Banner and The Internationale. Jan Peerce sings. The Westminster Choir and the NBC Symphony play.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved it in 2010. A copy is on the Internet Archive as gov.fdr.127. Some later prints omit The Internationale.
Notes
- Verdi wrote Inno delle nazioni in the early 1860s for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, using several national anthems.
- Toscanini had already orchestrated The Internationale for a 1943 NBC broadcast marking the October Revolution.
- After the Soviet anthem changed, some later copies of the film dropped The Internationale. One circulating version runs about 26 minutes.
- The Academy Film Archive preserved the film in 2010 as part of its war-film collection.
- It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
- Knox Manning is also listed among the speakers on some cast sheets.
Scenes
- Toscanini leads Peerce and the Westminster Choir through Verdi's hymn in Studio 8H.
- The arrangement turns from the Italian anthem into The Star-Spangled Banner and The Internationale.
Influenced by
- Inno delle nazioni by Giuseppe Verdi
Also available
- Internet Archive (gov.fdr.127)
