ABSTRACT
The NBC Symphony was unique among great American orchestras for several reasons. Unlike most orchestras of this time, the NBC Symphony only lasted for seventeen years, from 1937 to 1954. In part because of this fact, this orchestra, more than others, also was associated with a single music director, the famous Maestro Arturo Toscanini, who was the main conductor for most of the orchestra’s history. But the most unique aspect of this orchestra is embedded in its name: this ensemble was owned and operated by a single corporate entity, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Granted, there were precedents for this, most notably the BBC (or British Broadcasting Company) Symphony, founded in 1930. The BBC, however, was and continues to be funded mostly by the British government. In the NBC Symphony we find a uniquely American phenomenon: a commercial network dabbling in fine orchestral music, struggling with its conflicting urges between public service and profit, high culture and entertainment.
