In an era when America’s television networks have graced the nation’s airwaves with artistic gems featuring the likes of Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake—Oprah Winfrey having somehow been transformed from an annoying, chatty presenter of similar psychosocial trainwrecks into her new roles as national spiritual healer and (too scary to contemplate) literary arbiter—it’s hard to believe that there was a time in this country when American broadcasters felt an obligation to present classical music to the public. It’s even harder to remember that symphony orchestra concerts were a regular feature of the early days of television. NBC, for example, not only presented classical music but also founded its own orchestra, hiring the most celebrated conductor of the day, Arturo Toscanini, to lead it. Can one imagine any television network today—even PBS—building an orchestra and hiring Riccardo Chailly or Bernard Haitink to make ...

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