Editing John Barbirolli (section)

===New York Philharmonic===
By the spring of 1936, the management of the New York Philharmonic was confronted with a problem. Toscanini had left in search of higher fees with the [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]].{{refn|NBC paid Toscanini $3,334 a concert, compared with his fee of  $1,833 a concert with the Philharmonic. Barbirolli's fee with the Philharmonic was $312 a concert.<ref>Horowitz, p. 153</ref>|group= n}} [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]] had accepted the orchestra's invitation to fill the post, but he was politically unacceptable to a section of the Philharmonic's audience because he continued to live and work in Germany under the [[Nazi]] government. Following a campaign of protest in New York he felt unable to take up the appointment. For want of any available conductor of comparable fame the management of the orchestra invited five guest conductors to divide the season among them. Barbirolli was allotted the first ten weeks of the season, comprising 26 concerts.<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 105</ref> He was followed by the composer-conductors [[Igor Stravinsky]], [[Georges Enescu]] and [[Carlos Chávez]], each conducting for two weeks, and finally by [[Artur Rodziński]] of the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], for eight weeks.<ref>"New York Philharmonic's Guest Conductors", ''The Times'', 9 April 1936, p. 12</ref>

[[File:Carnegie-hall-isaac-stern.jpg|alt=the interior of a nineteenth century concert hall looking from the auditorium towards the platform|thumb|[[Carnegie Hall]], New York, where Barbirolli conducted from 1936 to 1943 {{ external media | float = center|width=230px |audio1 = You may listen to John Barbirolli conducting his orchestral transcription of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s [[Sheep May Safely Graze]] from his Cantata ''[[Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd]]'', BWV 208 with the [[New York Philharmonic]] in 1940 [https://archive.org/details/J.S.BACH-OrchestralTranscriptions-NEWTRANSFER/07.Bach-stokowski-PassacagliaAndFugueInCMinorphiladelphia.mp3'''here on archive.org''']}}]]
Barbirolli's first concert in New York was on 5 November 1936. The programme consisted of short pieces by [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and [[Arnold Bax]], and symphonies by Mozart (the ''[[Symphony No. 36 (Mozart)|Linz]]'') and [[Brahms]] (the [[Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)|Fourth]]).<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 111</ref> During his ten weeks, he programmed several American novelties including [[Charles Martin Loeffler]]'s tone-poem ''Memories of My Childhood'', a symphony by [[Anis Fuleihan]], and [[Philip James]]'s ''Bret Harte'' overture. He also conducted [[Serge Koussevitzky]]'s Double Bass Concerto.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1937/12/19/archives/barbirolli-gives-youths-concert-he-opens-the-philharmonics.html?sq=Barbirolli%2520AND%2520Double%2520Bass%2520Concerto&scp=1&st=cse "Barbirolli Gives Youths' Concert"],''The New York Times'', 19 December 1937 {{subscription required}}</ref> The players told the Philharmonic management that they would be happy for Barbirolli to be appointed to a permanent position.<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 116</ref> The outcome of this was an invitation to him to become music director and permanent conductor for three years starting with the 1937–38 season.<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 221</ref> At the same time as this great change in his professional life, Barbirolli's personal life was also transformed. His marriage had not lasted; within four years he and Marjorie Barbirolli had been living apart. In 1938 she sued for divorce on the grounds of his desertion. The suit was undefended, and the divorce was granted in December 1938.<ref name=divorce/> In 1939, Barbirolli married the British oboist [[Evelyn Rothwell]]. The marriage lasted for the rest of Barbirolli's life.{{refn|There were no children of either of Barbirolli's marriages.<ref name=times/>|group= n}}

One of the features of Barbirolli's time in New York was his regular programming of modern works. He gave the world premières of [[William Walton|Walton]]'s second ''[[Façade (entertainment)|Façade Suite]]'',<ref>Kennedy (1989), p. 99</ref> and [[Britten]]'s ''[[Sinfonia da Requiem]]'' and [[Violin Concerto (Britten)|Violin Concerto]]; he also introduced pieces by [[Jacques Ibert]], [[Eugene Aynsley Goossens|Eugene Goossens]], and [[Arthur Bliss]] and by many American composers including [[Samuel Barber]], [[Deems Taylor]] and [[Daniel Gregory Mason]]. The new works he presented were not avant-garde, but they nevertheless alienated the conservative subscription audience, and after an initial increase in ticket sales in his early years sales declined.<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 144</ref> Barbirolli also had to cope with what ''[[The Gramophone]]'' described as "a rough press campaign in New York from interested parties who wished to evict him from his post".<ref name=bicknell>Bicknell, David, and Ronald Kinloch Anderson. "Sir John Barbirolli", ''[[The Gramophone]]'', September 1970, p. 33</ref> The influential critic [[Olin Downes]] had opposed Barbirolli's appointment from the outset, insisting that, though "we abhor chauvinism", preference should have been given to "native conductors".<ref>Downes, Olin. "And After Toscanini: What?", ''The North American Review'', Vol. 241, No. 2 (June 1936), pp. 218–219</ref> Downes had a grudge against the Philharmonic: shortly before Barbirolli's appointment Downes was sacked as the commentator for the orchestra's prestigious Sunday broadcasts.<ref>Rothwell, p. 64</ref> He and the composer [[Virgil Thomson]] continually wrote disparagingly about Barbirolli, comparing him unfavourably with Toscanini.<ref>Horowitz, pp. 159 and 183; and Kennedy (1971), pp. 129–130</ref> The management of the orchestra nevertheless renewed Barbirolli's appointment in 1940.  In 1942, when his second contract was reaching its expiry, he was offered 18 concerts for the 1943–44 season, and the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] invited him to become its conductor, but he accepted neither offer as he had decided to return to England.<ref>Kennedy (1971), pp. 152 and 167–168</ref>

Barbirolli's first reason for leaving was local musical politics. He later said, "The Musicians Union there&nbsp;... brought out a new regulation saying that everyone, even soloists and conductors, must become members. [[Vladimir Horowitz|Horowitz]], [[Jascha Heifetz|Heifetz]] and the rest were shocked by this but there was little they could do about it. They also said that conductors must become American citizens. I couldn't do that during the war, or at any time for that matter."<ref name=blyth/> His second reason for leaving was that he felt strongly that he was needed in England. In the spring of 1942 he made a hazardous Atlantic crossing:
{{quote|I was in America when the war broke out, as conductor of the New York Philharmonic. [[A. V. Alexander]], who was First Sea Lord,{{refn|Alexander was in fact [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] – the government minister responsible for the Royal Navy – rather than [[First Sea Lord]], who is the senior serving officer of the navy. |group= n}} wrote to me to say that, contrary to expectations, music was flourishing and would I come back as I was missed. I was longing to return and it was just a question of how it was to be managed. A.V. went to Churchill, who apparently said, "If he's fool enough to come, let him come". It took us 23 days to cross on a fruit trader and, of our convoy of 75, only 32 ships arrived in Liverpool. I played here for ten weeks with the LSO and [[London Philharmonic Orchestra|LPO]] for the benefit of the musicians, and then went back on a [[Fyffes Line|Fyffe]] banana boat of 5,000 tons. We were spotted by U-boats the moment we left Northern Ireland but that kind of thing never worries me as I'm something of a fatalist. It had been wonderful anyhow to be back, to see England at its greatest, and to visit my old mother.<ref name=blyth/>}}

Barbirolli returned to New York to complete his contractual obligations to the Philharmonic.{{refn|Barbirolli's last concert as conductor of the New York Philharmonic was on 7 March 1943. He did not conduct the orchestra again until he appeared as guest conductor in 1959, after which he conducted a further 27 concerts, the last of which was on 4 April 1968.<ref>[http://history.nyphil.org/nypwcpub/dbweb.asp?ac=a1 Performance History Search] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724114145/http://history.nyphil.org/nypwcpub/dbweb.asp?ac=a1 |date=24 July 2014 }}, New York Philharmonic archives, accessed 29 January 2011.</ref>|group= n}} Shortly after his return he received an appeal from the Hallé Orchestra to become its conductor. The orchestra was in danger of extinction for lack of players, and Barbirolli seized the opportunity to help it.<ref name=blyth/>