1947–1948 season. Here again, an inability to work with the board resulted in his swift departure after only one season. His short tenure still had a significant impact upon the orchestra and local audiences through performances such as an account of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with Kirsten Flagstad. Last years After his departure from Chicago, Rodziński's health began to deteriorate. There was little recording activity available to him in the U.S., and so he settled in Europe once more. Here his status as a major musician was recognized and he was invited to lead significant productions, such as the 1953 first performance of Prokofiev's War and Peace at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, as well as traditional repertoire works. He conducted at La Scala and worked extensively for Italian radio, conducting well received readings of Wagner's Tannhäuser and Tristan, and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina. He re-established his presence as a recording artist through a contract with Westminster Records, for whom he recorded extensively with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (under the pseudonym "Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of London") from 1955. His final recordings were for EMI in 1958. By this time, the state of Rodziński's health had become fragile. He was warned by his Italian doctor that further conducting activity would put his life at risk. However, he returned to Chicago in 1958 to conduct Tristan once again, this time with the Chicago Lyric Opera and soprano Birgit Nilsson. His return was a triumph, but these were his last performances and he died shortly afterwards. Personal life Rodziński was married twice and had two sons. In 1917 he married the concert pianist Mme. Ilse, and in 1918 they had a son, Witold, who became an historian, sinologist and diplomat. In 1934, while living in Cleveland, he married Halina Lilpop Wieniawski (1905-1993), who was from a well-known Warsaw family. Their infant son Richard was the subject of Arnold Schoenberg's amusing canon "I am almost sure when your nurse will change your diapers." Richard served as artistic administrator at the San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera companies in the 1960s and 1970s. He recently retired from his position as president of the Van Cliburn Foundation, and in 2009 became the General Director of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 1976 Halina Rodziński wrote the autobiography Our Two Lives, still the most extensive published account of Rodziński's life and career. Recordings Rodziński recorded for Columbia Records