Toscanini, Walter, 1898-1971

Cia Fornaroli was a prima ballerina, choreographer, teacher and director, and Walter Toscanini was a dance historian, collector and curator, primarily in Milan and New York.

Lucia Fornaroli Toscanini (b Oct 16, 1888, Milan Italy; d Aug 16, 1954, New York, NY), wife of Walter Toscanini and daughter of Giovanni Fornaroli and Santina Volonté, better known as Cia Fornaroli, was a disciple of the Academy of Dance of Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Instructed by Adelaide Vignanò, Caterina Beretta, Achille Coppini and Raffaele Grassi, she became a renowned figure of Italian ballet. From 1910 to 1914, she was première danseuse at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and later, she danced in Argentina, Spain, Austria, Germany and Italy. The scene of her great contribution to ballet was at La Scala (Milan), where she danced in 1918 and again from 1921 to 1932. Here she won wide acclaim as prima ballerina, appearing in such ballets as Il Principe Mahit, Casanova a Venezia, Il Convento Venziano and Vecchia Milano. In 1929 she was appointed Director of La Scala Ballet School in succession from Enrico Cecchetti, who had considered her one of the best students of his method and expressed the wish that she should follow him. Holding this post until 1932, she taught many Italian ballerinas who later became prominent, including Nives Poli, Attilia Radice and Teresa Legnani. As a choreographer, having been an early experimenter in the symphonic ballet form, she produced La Primavera and Concerto dell' Estate for the Casino Municipale di San Remo company in 1933. She and her husband, Dr. Walter Toscanini, noted as a specialist in the history of Italian Ballet, later settled in New York, where, from 1943 to 1950, she directed her own ballet school. Walter Enrico Claudio Pietro Toscanini (b Mar 21, 1898, Turin, Italy; d July 1971, New York, NY), son of Arturo Toscanini and Carlotta De Martini, obtained a law degree while attending the Universities of Pavia and Urbino in Italy, Yet, it is in the field of dance that Walter Toscanini chose to focus his energies. As an author (e.g. of pen names are Gualtiero De Martini and L'Intristio), editor (La Danza or Perseo), curator/director (Brera Library at Milan, State Archives of Milan and Milan conservatory of Music) and rare book collector /dealer (e.g. Bottega di Poesia and Antiquariato Walter Toscanini and Co.), Toscanini determinedly pursued facts and items to further his understanding of dance history, as well as to share his deep appreciation of the art form. In 1923, he published L'Arte della Danza, e dell' Arte di Cia Fornaroli under his pen name Gualtiero De Martini, ca. 1940 he wrote a choreodrama based upon Fanny Elssler's life and ca. 1968 he devoted his written efforts to the topic of Maria Teresa Fogliazzi. Of special interest to him, as revealed by the extent of his research, were the experiences and writings of Guglielmo Ebreo and Gaspare Angiolini. Cia Fornaroli and Walter Toscanini had one son, Walfredo, on August 16, 1929 and were married on June 18, 1938.

Lucia Fornaroli Toscanini¹ (b Oct 16, 1888, Milan Italy; d Aug 16, 1954, New York, NY), wife of Walter Toscanini and daughter of Giovanni Fornaroli and Santina Volonté, better known as Cia Fornaroli, was a disciple of the Academy of Dance of Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Instructed by Adelaide Vignanò, Caterina Beretta, Achille Coppini and Raffaele Grassi, she became a renowned figure of Italian ballet. From 1910 to 1914, she was première danseuse at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and later, she danced in Argentina, Spain, Austria, Germany and Italy. The scene of her great contribution to ballet was at La Scala (Milan), where she danced in 1918 and again from 1921 to 1932. Here she won wide acclaim as prima ballerina, appearing in such ballets as Il Principe Mahit, Casanova a Venezia, Il Convento Venziano and Vecchia Milano . In 1929 she was appointed Director of La Scala Ballet School in succession from Enrico Cecchetti, who had considered her one of the best students of his method and expressed the wish that she should follow him. Holding this post until 1932, she taught many Italian ballerinas who later became prominent, including Nives Poli, Attilia Radice and Teresa Legnani. As a choreographer, having been an early experimenter in the symphonic ballet form, she produced La Primavera and Concerto dell’ Estate for the Casino Municipale di San Remo company in 1933. She and her husband, Dr. Walter Toscanini, noted as a specialist in the history of Italian Ballet, later settled in New York, where, from 1943 to 1950, she directed her own ballet school.

Walter Enrico Claudio Pietro Toscanini (b Mar 21, 1898, Turin, Italy; d July 1971, New York, NY), son of Arturo Toscanini and Carlotta De Martini, obtained a law degree while attending the Universities of Pavia and Urbino in Italy, Yet, it is in the field of dance that Walter Toscanini chose to focus his energies. As an author (e.g. of pen names are Gualtiero De Martini and L’Intristio), editor ( La Danza or Perseo ), curator / director (Brera Library at Milan, State Archives of Milan and Milan conservatory of Music)² and rare book collector /dealer (e.g. Bottega di Poesia and Antiquariato Walter Toscanini & C), Toscanini determinedly pursued facts and items to further his understanding of dance history, as well as to share his deep appreciation of the art form. In 1923, he published L’Arte della Danza, e dell’ Arte di Cia Fornaroli under his pen name Gualtiero De Martini, ca. 1940 he wrote a choreodrama based upon Fanny Elssler’s life and ca. 1968 he devoted his written efforts to the topic of Maria Teresa Fogliazzi. Of special interest to him, as revealed by the extent of his research, were the experiences and writings of Guglielmo Ebreo and Gaspare Angiolini.

Cia Fornaroli and Walter Toscanini had one son, Walfredo, on August 16, 1929 and were married on June 18, 1938.

Walter Toscanini was born (1893) in Turin, Italy, son of maestro Arturo Toscanini. He attended the Universities of Urbino and Pavia where he obtained a law degree, although he never practiced.

During WWI as a captain posted in an Austrian farmhouse, he came across an interesting dance book. He held onto this little treasure and later found himself dating an Italian ballerina, Cia Fornaroli. He, as a matter of courting, often presented her with rare dance books he searched out just for her. This was the beginning of the wonderful, rare dance book collection of Walter Toscanini who became known as a rare book collector and dealer.

His wife, Cia Fornaroli, b. Milan 16 Oct. 1888 d. 16 Aug. 1954, is considered the greatest Italian dancer of her generation. She trained with Cecchetti and at La Scala ballet school. She was the premiere danseuse at the New York Metropolitan Opera House from 1910-1914. She danced with the Pavlova company as a prima ballerina assoluta at La Scala (1921-1932). Because of Fascist attacks on her and her husband, they moved to New York in 1933 where she conducted her own school from 1943 to 1950.

After her death, Walter Toscanini in 1955 handed over a great part of their collection of dance memorabilia to the Dance Collection and entitled it the “Cia Fornaroli Collection” as a memorial to her. He also, at that time, presented much of his personal collection of prints relating to the ballet.

The gift included more than 2,000 prints, 3,500 librettos, 850 pieces of music, 23,000 letters and manuscripts, and 15,000 clippings, photographs, and playbills.

In 1965, Walter Toscanini gave to the Dance Collection the earliest and most significant item of his collection, the Guglielmo Ebreo manuscript. Ebreo, a student of Domenico da Piacenza, wrote it probably with the help of a student, in Tuscany around 1465. He used it as a teaching tool when he instructed social dances in the Italian courts. The manuscript, entitled Trattato della danza and De Praticha sue arte tripudii vulghare opusudum, describes the necessary qualifications of a dancer and the dances he created.

The manuscript is one of six known. The other five are stored in Paris, Florence, Modena and Siena and are formal manuscripts for court libraries. Toscanini's Ebreo manuscript is a plain, homely, practical manuscript for Ebreo's own use. It consists of 70 pages, 34-37 lines on each page of paper, with a watermark dating from about 1465. It explains the theoretical precepts of the art of dancing and gives descriptions of 23 bassedances and 32 balli.

Three of these bassedances and 13 of the balli are not found in any of the other known treatises. The manuscript has never been formally printed.

Walter Toscanini's materials related to the Ebreo manuscript were donated to the Dance Collection in 1972, one year after his death.