modern artists as well as the old masterpieces [...] why shouldn't it be so in the concert hall? Among the works that Rodziński scheduled for local premieres in his first season were Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony, Richard Strauss' Don Quixote, Dmitri Shostakovich's First Symphony, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's suite from his incidental music to Much Ado About Nothing. Cleveland (1933–1943) Rodziński was named the second music director of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1933, following the departure of Nikolai Sokoloff. One of Rodziński's main contributions to Cleveland's music scene was integrating opera into the Cleveland Orchestra's repertoire. In addition, he sought to perform more contemporary music, including works by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Alban Berg, Dmitri Shostakovich, Jerome Kern, and the first Cleveland performances of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Under Rodziński's leadership, the orchestra presented the United States premiere of Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, in 1935, a year after its debut in the Soviet Union. The conductor secured the rights to the American premiere of the opera through the mediation of William Christian Bullitt Jr., then the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union and himself an admirer of Shostakovich's opera. Rodziński competed against his mentor Stokowski for the performance rights. Although Rodziński worried about the Cleveland audience's reception for the provocative opera, the orchestra's performances proved a success. Shostakovich himself had faith in Rodziński's performance: "When you see the Cleveland Orchestra's presentation of the American premiere of my opera in Severance Hall the last day of January, you will see no traditional opera…I have repudiated all old forms of opera." One of the most famous recordings made during Rodziński's tenure in Cleveland was of an orchestral arrangement of Kern's 1927 musical Show Boat, made by the composer himself as Show Boat Scenario for Orchestra after being suggested to compose it by the conductor. The piece was recorded by the orchestra in 1941; Rodziński conducted it 38 times over a three-year period. Rodziński was guest conducting the New York Philharmonic on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Although Rodziński declined to announce the news—the concert was being broadcast live on the radio—he led the Philharmonic in a performance of the Star-Spangled Banner. Later, he noted that the demands of World War II on young men should inspire orchestras to take the then unprecedented step of adding women to their ranks, saying that they would