I Love Thee

[Derek McGovern]

Another recording we don't discuss very often is Grieg's I Love Thee, which Mario recorded no fewer than four times: first for RCA in 1950, then for his radio show in 1951, and finally *twice* in 1958 -- a partial version for the soundtrack of For the First Time and a complete rendition for the soundtrack album. (That's right: the soundtrack album version is not from the actual soundtrack!) He obviously loved the song, and I've often wondered if this was one of the 20 numbers that Irene Williams taught him as a young man in Philadelphia.

I love the song too, but I do wish that the English lyrics Lanza sings here weren't so wretchedly archaic! It would have been fun if he'd sung it in German -- or even Italian. (Come to think of it, Carreras does a nice job of it in his native Catalan.) But even Corelli sang it in something vaguely resembling English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKeKSsyxzAU (his mangling of the word "eternity" is hilarious!).

Here are links to the four versions for your listening pleasure and comments :):

1950 version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYcGXKRBttk

1951 version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkQOgbEJRg0

1958 version (complete):

http://www.mariolanzatenor.com/i-love-thee.html

1958 soundtrack version (partial):

http://www.mariolanzatenor.com/i-love-thee.html

Of these four, there are two renditions that I love and two that I can't stand, but I won't spoil the fun by elaborating on my reasons at this stage...:)

[Thelma]

I like the first two, because those are the ones I first remember,
1950-51 with 1951 liking the best.  I chose this song for my wedding
in 1953 along with Because sung by my uncle who had a good tenor
voice.   In those days lots of people would choose a  classical song
like this, and I was always partial to the composer, Edvard Grieg (I
Love Thee), and Because by Guy d' Hardelot .

[Vince Di Placido]

The complete 1958 is lovely! A great recording, It's my favourite BUT
I can live with the 1950 as well, its a little erratic & over the top
but Mario was full of youthful exhuberance & I can forgive him. The
Coke version is a bit off for me...

[Derek McGovern]

Like Vince, I also love the complete 1958 recording. It's a wonderfully mature rendition, and sounds especially good here (taken from the stereo LP rather than the CD). 

Actually, I would dearly love to hear a *pristine* reproduction of the original British LP *mono* version of this recording, which featured even better sound (and a different audio mix) from the stereo album. (This is the version of the For the First Time album that featured La Donna 'e Mobile instead of Pineapple Pickers.) Several of the tracks, including the Ave Maria, sounded significantly different (and better) than on the much more widely available American LP and CD version of the album.

I find the partial film take more exciting than the complete 1958 recording; it's a shame that no complete version for the film was recorded. If there's one criticism I'd make of the complete 1958 take, it's that it's slightly lacking in excitement. But if the alternative is the way-too-excitable youth we hear on the 1950 and 1951 versions, then give me Lanza's more restrained approach any day! Besides, Mario's constant mispitching (he goes incredibly sharp) on both the 1950 and 1951 versions is hard on the ears (or, at least, it is on mine!).

[Vince Di Placido]

Thats a tough lyric... I remember my music teacher telling me that if
you are singing a word & the next word starts with the same letter the
previous one ended with you should break it clearly, give it a bit of
air as it were... "For to whatever fate God's will may doom me" in
1950 he is making a real effort (too much maybe) to distinguish
between doom & me by 1958 it's a smoother connection that almost makes
it 1 word actually "doomee":-)
would "doom on me" have been a better line? I'm not a writer now but
"doom me" sounds a bit awkward, but what do I know...
The original lyrics were written by Hans Christian Andersen weren't
they!?

[Thelma]

Yes, Hans Christian Anderson, wrote the words. It is a little hard to
sing well, but the melody and meaning make it worthwhile. It is
beautiful song!

Just yesterday when I was looking up how to spell the Guy H who wrote
"'Because", I found out Guy was not a guy, but a woman! and already I
have forgotten her real name. She was French. I guess they didn't
take women as song writers seriously then.

On Oct 2, 4:59 am, Vince Di Placido <vincent.diplac...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Derek McGovern]

I was replying to Thelma's post on the "Miscellaneous Lanza" thread a few minutes ago about "I Love Thee," and I've just remembered that we already have this separate thread devoted to the song. To keep things tidy, if anyone would like to comment on these recordings, let's continue that discussion here, rather than on the "Miscellaneous Lanza" thread.

And once again, here's the link to our new page on the two 1958 recordings of "I Love Thee":

http://www.mariolanzatenor.com/i-love-thee.html