Original caricature drawing of Koussevitzky playing the double bass
Ca. 1920.
199 x 149 mm. In pencil on wove paper.
Slightly worn and creased; minor loss to upper left blank corner.
"[Koussevitzky] was one of three glamorous iconic maestros who dominated American symphonic culture after World War I. Though he never attained the national renown of Arturo Toscanini or Leopold Stokowski, he far surpassed both as an influential advocate of American music. And neither Toscanini nor Stokowski left as tangible a legacy as Koussevitzky’s Tanglewood. Having entered the Moscow Philharmonic Music School at 14, he chose the double bass as one of three instruments for which open scholarships were available. He joined the double basses of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra six years later, and began touring as a double bass virtuoso two years after that... [He] came to the United States in 1924 to suceed Pierre Monteux as conductor of the Boston SO... The capstone of Koussevitzky’s mission was the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. The Boston SO gave summer concerts in the Berkshires beginning in 1936... Koussevitzky’s conducting students included Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss." Joseph Horowitz in Grove Music Online.
The present drawing is unattributed and undated, but was presumably executed during the period when Koussevitszky was active as a double bass virtuoso prior to his conducting career.
Item #29814
Price: $950.00 other currencies