"Hymn of the Nations" HQ COMPLETE UNCENSORED VERSION conducted by Toscanini Part 2

A legendary conductor: Arturo Toscanini
A legendary tenor: Jan Peerce
And a shocking example of censorship.

In 1944, to honor the Allied victory in Italy, the great Arturo Toscanini--a refugee from Fascisim in his home country--decided to conduct a performance of Verdi's "Hymn of the Nations". "Hymn" is a composition that Verdi orginally built around the national anthems of Britain, France, and Italy. In order to honor all four of the major Allies, Toscanini decided to add "The Star Spangled Banner" for the U.S. and "The Internationale" for the Soviet Union. The music was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with the Westminister Choir and the great tenor Jan Peerce as soloist; conducted by Toscanini.

In the early 50's, at the height of the Red Scare, censors removed the portion of this performance that featured the Internationale.

The great actor Burgess Meredith, who narrates the beginning of this program, was later on the Hollywood Blacklist.

For years this piece of film was considered lost. But in the 1980s the Library of Congress restored the censored clip, with its rousing rendition of "The Internationale". So enjoy the magnificent tenor voice of Jan Peerce, and the masterful conducting of Arturo Toscanini.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• hymn of the nations
• arturo toscanini
• jan peerce
• The Internationale

[flimflam742]

Is this video currently available on DVD?

[farmerne]

@flimflam742 It's part of the extras on a dvd documentary on the Internationale, from First Run Features films co.

[SAOS451316]

L'internationale sera le genre humain!

Vive Communisme!

Vive l'Anarqie!

[williamlander]

Internationale: 7:46

[OldLineConfederate]

@KarlBonner1982 And I would say that both performances are the best I've ever seen of either song. Such a magnificent contradiction. The CIA censors who edited the recording must have been laughing at the irony.

[KarlBonner1982]

How often do you get to hear the Internationale and the Star-Spangled Banner PERFORMED ONE AFTER THE OTHER?!?

[Ettoredipugnar]

@Apollogranforte Bravo

[JUGAopet1]

IDEAS are bulletproof

TX 4 upload

[Apollogranforte]

Magnificent Peerce, enormous Toscanini, immortal Verdi. Thank you.

[7845lptape]

I'd be willing to bet the piece of film containing the Internationale wasn't really lost, but lurking about within any number of original 16mm prints held by various public libraries and other institutions. I'd guess this was the case because I checked out the copy held by the Seattle Public Library more than 40 years ago and it was complete, even if it was in very rough shape with many splices and jumps. But it was all there, including the Internationale.

[SteveAndrewLangford]

Woah, Toscanini in HD!

[HINDS5045]

Censorship at its most disturbing use.

THANK YOU.