''Hymn of the Nations'', originally titled ''Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations'', is a 1944 film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features the ''

Inno delle nazioni ' (''Hymn of the nations''), a cantata in a single movement, is one of only two secular choral works composed by Giuseppe Verdi. This Hymn incorporates "God Save the King", "La Marseillaise", and "Il Canto degli Italiani". It was the first collab ...

'', a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

in the early-1860s. For this musical work, Verdi utilized the national anthems of several European nations.

Production

In December 1943,

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

filmed a performance of this music for inclusion in an Office of War Information documentary about the role of Italian-Americans in aiding the Allies during World War II. Toscanini added a bridge passage to include arrangements of " The Star-Spangled Banner" for the United States and " The Internationale" for the Soviet Union and the

Italian partisans The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Soci ...

. Joining Toscanini in the filmed performance in NBC Studio 8-H, were tenor

Jan Peerce Jan Peerce (born Yehoshua Pinkhes Perelmuth; June 3, 1904 December 15, 1984) was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway theatre, Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recordi ...

, the Westminster Choir, and the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...

. The film also included the overture to Verdi's opera ''

La Forza del Destino ' (; ''The Power of Fate'', often translated ''The Force of Destiny'') is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, ' (1835), by Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke of Rivas, wi ...

''. The narration was written by May Sarton, film editing by Boris Kaufman, and narration read by actor Burgess Meredith. The original version was released on VHS by Blackhawk Films, which retitled it ''Arturo Toscanini Conducts Giuseppe Verdi''. A newly restored version by the Library of Congress, with the Meredith narration, has been issued on DVD.

Reception

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. The Academy Film Archive preserved ''Hymn of the Nations'' in 2010. The film is part of the Academy War Film Collection, one of the largest collections of World War II era short films held outside government archives.

Censorship

During the post-war

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

, the US government crudely censored " The Internationale" out of the film. The version continued to be released without any acknowledgement of censorship. The uncensored version was thought to have been lost until a print was rediscovered in Alaska.

References

External links

* *
''Hymn of the Nations''
at the National Archives and Records Administration * 1944 films 1940s Italian-language films American short documentary films Films directed by Alexandr Hackenschmied 1944 short films American black-and-white films 1944 documentary films 1940s short documentary films 1940s English-language films Italian-language American films 1940s American films {{music-documentary-film-stub