Today in Virtual Tour: Europe 2020, we rewind to the 1930 European tour — which established the Philharmonic as a major international orchestra — conducted by then Music Director Arturo Toscanini. Thanks to the New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives, you can watch a home video of the tour, shot by then Principal Trumpet Harry Glantz. Click here, then press the play button in the upper-right corner of the page.
The 16mm black-and-white films show Toscanini, his family, the musicians, and their families aboard ships and trains. The historic tour brought America’s first orchestra to Paris, Zurich, Milan, Turin, Rome, Florence, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Brussels, and London.