Miscellaneous Lanza-related questions and comments (June-September 2012)
Derek McGovern
Tony Partington
On Thursday, June 14, 2012 8:19:30 PM UTC-5, Derek McGovern wrote:
The previous Miscellaneous Lanza thread was getting a bit long, so please use this one for all those miscellaneous questions/comments that you feel don't need their own individual thread. (Of course, if you want to reply to a post in the previous Miscellaneous thread, then feel free to do so there rather than here.)
Hi Folks:
I came across this curiosity in my web search for something else and thought I would share it with the forum. Interesting and, I think, rather sad in a way.
Steff
Just a snippet from an article which I understand is about the Hungarian tenor Miklos Gafni (1923-1981). It was printed in “Fanfare” Volume 18, 1995 (Sadly, I only have this excerpt, not the complete article):
“As you listen to this material you can hardly avoid thinking of Mario Lanza, but there was pure gold in the Lanza voice: a distinctive quality recognizable instantaneously, the ability to thrill with the ring of the sound, and a serious, if unformed, musical imagination that allowed for a variety of phrasing and dynamics that brought the music to life.”
Steff
Steff
Hi Tony,
Derek McGovern
The only thing I'd dispute is the idea that Lanza's musical imagination was "unformed." Stylistically inconsistent, sure. But all he needed to rectify that---as Licia Albanese pointed out---was a decent coach. It seems a bit odd to me to suggest that a singer can possess "serious" musical imagination that allowed for a variety of phrasing" while at the same time being musically unformed.
An unfortunate choice of vocabulary, perhaps?
Cheers
Derek
Steff
Hi Derek,
If you read the following you will not bother anymore about the term “unformed” (reminds me somewhat of “crude, untrained, unpoised, but just magnificent” – maybe “unformed” stands for natural, not shaped by too much technique?)
This is an amazon review from „a customer“(a good decision of his to stay anonymous) from March 2001. The review is about Bocelli’s CD “Verdi” by Andrea Bocelli”
“Bravo Bocelli!! One of the greatest tenors ever”
I'm only sorry I couldn't rate him 7 stars out of 5. His voice is simply astounding. I could almost hear Salieri (played by Murray Abraham of the much-beloved Amadeus cinema, ca 1984) giving effusive superlatives. The quality of his voice packs power and and plenty of emotion to go with it. His voice is most dynamic. It's hard for me to explain in words. His diction is crisp and just perfect.
He's much better than even Mario Lanza, whose movies I've seen. I've got an album of his, too -- as do I the other two tenors who're past their prime -- Domingo and Pavarotti. Lanza's voice is just loud, all the way through. His diction is brutal. Just see his film Be My Love, co-staring Kathryn Grayson, you'll know what I mean. His face contorts when he strains too much. When the last syllable of a word reads "se", he vocalizes it as "sah," which is Americanized, not quite the phoentically sounding Italian. Bocelli correctly sings it as "se." To be fair with the "legendary" Lanza, he was too Americanized for Italian singing, being born in America.
http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Andrea-Bocelli/product-reviews/B00004X16D?pageNumber=8
Steff
Steff
I don’t know if anybody here has already mentioned that last year, 2011, an autobiography by José Carreras in collaboration with a friend of his, Marius Carol, was published. I understand that, at the moment, it is only available in Spanish language and in a German version.
The original Spanish title is “Josep Carreras - Memorias - A viva voz”
Of course, Carreras has mentioned many times before that his becoming a singer mainly was inspired by his seeing Mario in “The Great Caruso,” however, Carreras seems to tell a little more in this new book:
“I was not yet seven years old, when I was taken to the “Gayarre,” a cinema in the suburb, which had been named after the Navarre tenor Julián Gayarre. For a kid of the post-war period this was one of the few opportunities to get entertained. They showed “The Great Caruso” by Richard Thorpe, with Mario Lanza in the title role. This film impressed me deeply, and for sure contributed to my wanting to become a singer.
Years later, I watched it again and I noticed that it was not only the music that had moved my heart, but also the personality of its protagonist. For sure, the glamour was of some – if only unconscious - importance, it encompassed the life of an artist who, by travelling around the world receives the audience’s applause and wins people’s hearts.
It would be exaggerated to claim that I immediately felt the desire to become an opera singer – at such a young age you do not think of things like that- but I took a fancy to sing and I wanted to be Caruso. To my parents’ big surprise, I started singing arias from this film, which I had never heard before and I tried to imitate the singing style of this tenor. My parents hardly couldn’t believe it when they heard me sing so properly “La donna è mobile” from “Rigoletto.” I think I did quite well, since, one year later, I was given the chance to sing this aria at a benefit programme of Radio Nacional which was emceed by Dalmau and Vinas. My family still has this recording which is extremely treasured – it is by the way, the oldest recording which does exist of my voice […]
There’s something else, which I never told before. After having seen “The Great Caruso” with Mario Lanza I saw ”Violetas Imperiales,” starring Carmen Sevilla and Luis Mariano. I liked it very much, and I have to say that to me, Luis Mariano always has been a great singer with a beautiful voice, even if he sang somewhat stiltedly. At that time, I immediately adopted some of his songs into my improvised “repertoire” and I have no doubt at all that this film also encouraged my love for music […]
Steff
Derek McGovern
This film impressed me deeply, and for sure contributed to my wanting to become a singer. Years later, I watched it again and I noticed that it was not only the music that had moved my heart, but also the personality of its protagonist.
Derek McGovern
The lines that Kirsten and Lanza are singing begin at "Gia' l'april--fa ritorno" (which you'll see at the end of page 31) and it's a reprise from Act IV Scene II on page 28. Hope this helps!
Cheers
Derek
Michael McAdam
Steff
There’s an article on
about a violinist, Sheldon Rotenberg, who was in Tanglewood in 1942 and recalls the following about Mario Lanza:
“Koussevitzky also had a gift for attracting the stars of the future. Mr. Rotenberg’s fellow classmates included Leonard Bernstein, Lukas Foss, and one young tenor who, according to Mr. Rotenberg, liked to walk down to the nearby beach, bare his chest, and launch high notes that sailed clear across the lake to Stockbridge. His name was Mario Lanza.”
Steff
Lou
Michael McAdam
Lou
Tony Partington
Steff
The album “Noah” of tenor Noah Stewart was already released in the United Kingdom in March. Now, it is released in other countries this coming July.
“American Tenor Noah Stewart releases Debut Album “Noah” July 3 on Decca Records.”
http://africlassical.blogspot.de/2012/06/american-tenor-noah-stewart-releases.html
“[…] Noah Stewart knows that there was a time when being an operatic tenor didn't just mean performing at the opera house, but could encompass all kinds of popular and traditional songs as well. From Enrico Caruso to Luciano Pavarotti, history's classic tenors all had the popular touch. "Mario Lanza was a huge idol of mine!" declares Noah, referring to the tenor who also became a Hollywood movie star and reached global audiences with a mix of music that included operatic arias, operetta, Neapolitan songs and popular standards. "Lanza was really important because he was a legitimate singer who sang songs but also sang opera. He had tremendous vocal gifts, and he showed that in all kinds of music it's all about feeling and it's all about emotion." How appropriate, then, that Noah recently won the Mario Lanza Competition for Tenors. And Lanza himself would surely have approved of the breadth of material that Noah has chosen to sing for his debut album for Decca, not least I'll Walk With God, which Lanza sang in the movie The Student Prince.”
I purchased the album when it was released. It certainly is no Mario Lanza tribute- like Calleja’s album “Be My Love” will be- since the track list has hardly any “Lanza classics” (there’s only “With a Song in My Heart,” “I’ll Walk With God”). The booklet that goes along with the CD does not mention Mario Lanza (It says: "Thank you, Leontyne Price, for inspiring me to became an opera singer. Thank you, Luciano Pavarotti, for setting the bar so high as a tenor.”) but now I am thrilled to read the comment above.
Incidentally, I noticed that the new release leaves out the last track (no.14) which is on the original UK release: The Christmas song “Silent Night.” A wise decision, in my opinion.
Steff
P.S.: Sorry, for not answering to a few posts here. I will do so as soon as possible. I am just busy with another important project. Apart from that, it’s finally summer here and I simply enjoy the sunshine and hot temperatures! Smile…
Derek McGovern
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/07/3692127/classical-beat-all-hail-the-dancing.html
It's a nice article too---thoughtfully written:
The MGM film, Lanza’s third starring vehicle, was hugely popular when it came out in 1951. The demands of moviemaking, however, left Lanza no time for a legitimate opera career on the stage, and this hurt him with opera critics who increasingly regarded him as a dilettante.
But critics be damned. “The Great Caruso” wowed audiences. It is hardly an accurate portrayal of Caruso’s life and suffers, like so many Hollywood films of that era, from a treacly sentimentality. But it also has virtues that are often lacking in contemporary films, like over-the-top operatic music and romance.
leeann
And since the Kansas movie will show at a a local community college, it's interesting to remember that the first public showing of The Great Caruso, the beta pre-screening actually took place before an audience of college students who were told they were to see a John Wayne film as a means of enticing them to the show.
The co-author of the script, Sonya Levien, talked about that experience in a speech in 1952 that's excerpted on the website. And even though the Kansas City Star article points out that they don't make movies with ovver-the-top operatic music any more, Levien worried about it way back then, and earlier in her brief talk had stated,
We did our best. Nevertheless, Mr. Ludwig and I who wrote the screenplay, were in a very humble frame of mind when we arrived at our first preview.
Steff
I don’t think that I ever heard this complete half an hour radio broadcast featuring the songs of the movie "That Midnight Kiss." Do we have parts of it on any CD?
US Radio Broadcast September 29th, 1949.
Mario Lanza tenor , Kathryn Grayson soprano
Hollywood Radio City Orchestra - Henry Russell
Mamma mia che vo sape - Lanza
Can't help loving that man - Grayson
They didn't believe me - duet Lanza, Grayson
Jewel song (Faust) – Grayson
I Know, I know, I know – Lanza
Autumn in New York - orchestra Verranno a te sull'are
(Lucia di Lammermoor) duet - Lanza, Grayson
Steff
Derek McGovern
All of the Lanza portions of the programme are available---or were---via Damon Lanza Productions, and scattered over two CDs: For You Alone and One Love if Mine.
Cheers
Derek
norma
norma
leeann
And here's the link on its own: http://youtu.be/vSk6pc8ZouQ
I think Delli Colli really ought to be considered one of the stars of this movie--his splendid cinematography kind of props up some of the weaker aspects of this picture! Best, Lee Ann
Derek McGovern
Huh? What were these "foreign films," and when did he have time to make them after For the First Time? :)
Talk about sloppy fact-checking! I expect better from Oxford University Press.
leeann
There's been mention among Lanza forums about the recent two-hour program on the US public broadcasting station "Great Performances: Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration." I just realized, though, that people outside the US probably can't access the online program which includes a brief segment on the history of Tanglewood.
The early years (1936-1940) emphasize Koussevitzky's dedication to the whole concept of Tanglewood and cite four graduates of the Music Center Opera Department (founded in 1940) who went on to become stars: Phyliss Curtin, Sherrill Milnes, Leontyne Price and yes, "Hollywood heartthrob, Mario Lanza." Derek's put the photo of Lanza shown in the program on the introduction to the forum above.
A few screenshots from the program about the early history of Tanglewood from the PBS program are attached. Interestingly, the piece actually included film clips from 1936 through the 1940s! A couple of shots show the exterior and interior of the makeshift tent in which the Boston symphony performed in 1937. According to one story,
Derek McGovern
It's heartbreaking to think that there is film footage of Tanglewood in the 1940s, and yet (as far as we know) nothing of Lanza's time there. (Even to see silent footage of him rehearsing or simply talking to his colleagues would have been wonderful.) Of course, it's a similar case with the New Orleans Opera Association: while some of their performances were recorded in the late 1940s, their 1948 production of Madama Butterfly was not among them :(
It's sad that no photos of Lanza with the amazing Koussevitzky have emerged (other than a huge group portrait taken in the Tanglewood grounds)---or even with Leonard Bernstein, for that matter. However, we do have a photo of Lanza with his nemesis Goldovsky in a group shot of seven people, and, appropriately enough, our smiling young tenor is seated slightly apart from Goldovsky and the others.
Cheers
Derek
Derek McGovern
Mario certainly seems to be enjoying himself here, just eleven months before his death. And that's a terrific B-flat at the end. I wonder if the Hofbräuhaus Song was recorded on the same day as Pineapple Pickers (another song that ends on a great B-flat)? Presumably it was, since both recordings were made in Germany during the shooting of For the First Time, and any interruptions to filming would have needed to be minimized. (Actually, it can't have been easy for Lanza to have returned to the recording studio in the middle of making a movie.)
Whatever we may think of these two songs as musical compositions, Lanza was certainly in great voice in November 1958.
norma
Derek McGovern
Cheers, Derek
leeann
So, here's an end of holidays, light-hearted (and heart-warming) public relations piece about Lanza that may or may not be completely true. It's about another young person enthralled by Lanza's music--although with different results than the inspiration that led Joseph Calleja during his career and to his new album, Be My Love: a Tribute to Mario Lanza.
Seven-year-old Tanna Lou Vesey saw The Toast of New Orleans three times (her choice), and it formed her early musical taste. Her father wrote to RCA Victor, "The first record she bought was a children's disc, the second was 'Be My Love.' ...We can't understand it, since both her mother and I are bop, boogie and bounce type people...but we won't discourage it." Her father sent RCA a dollar for a photo of Lanza and "to buy a beer for one of the office boys."
RCA Victor published excerpts from the letter and Lanza's note to the little girl in its magazine, RCA Picture Record Review in September 1951. A PDF of the cover and the article is attached. Best, LeeAnn
Steff
Hi Derek,
To me, Mario's pronounciation sounds very good (far better than his French pronounciation, in my opinion), BUT I would have to hear the song without the chorus to give a definitive judgement. However, given the fact how perfect Mario's German was when he was interviewed with Johanna von Koczian and Hans Söhnker ("Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" is rather difficult to pronounce for a non-native speaker!) there's no doubt that he would have done very well in singing German.
Steff
Something about the “Student Prince” movie which I found in
“Hermes Pan, the Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire” by John Charles Franceschina, a book which was released this summer.
Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer (1910-1990)
“From „Sombrero“ Hermes moved directly to “The Student Prince”, and assignment he looked forward to since he was anxious to choreograph for Mario Lanza, whose singing voice he highly regarded. He knew Lanza was temperamental and difficult to work with but he felt confident that, given the nature of the story, the beauty of Sigmund Romberg’s music, and the artistry of the singer, he could create movement that would be both appropriate to the action and pleasing to the star. As Hermes commented to Constantine in 1945, “Whenever a situation arises that seems impossible, I always say to myself, ‘This is like the beginning and that wasn’t easy. I must go on.’ It always works (Constantine 1945, 7). What Pan didn’t count on was Lanza walking out on the production because of a dispute with director Curtis Bernhardt over his interpretation of “Beloved,” a song composed by Nicholas Brodszky and Paul Francis Webster and interpolated into Romberg’s score. After a number of heated exchanges between studio and star during the months of July and August, “The Student Prince” was officially taken off production on September 1952 and Hermes was moved to “Dream Wife,” a nonmusical comedy starring Carry Grant […].”
“After “Kiss Me Kate” had wrapped in July, M-G-M announced that plans were under way for resuming production of “The Student Prince” in the fall and that Edmund Purdom would star as Prince Karl Franz. Earlier in April, the studio had settled its dispute with Mario Lanza over the film, and as part of the settlement, the singer agreed to allow the studio to use his recordings for the filming of the musical without him. With Angie Blue again serving as his assistant, Pan began dance rehearsals for “The Student Prince” in the middle of October 1953 beginning with a complicated masque ball sequence that appears late on the film. Since the principals Prince Karl (Edmund Purdom) and Kathie (Ann Blyth) were heavily involved in the number, Pan and Blue wanted to give them sufficient time to learn, absorb, and perfect the movement. Like Betty Grable’s entrance in “Sweet Rosie O’Grady,” the festive masked ball begins with a picture coming to life – a costumed woman in midair, ready to be caught by the men beneath her. After the falling woman is safely in the arms of the dancers below, masked couples in colorful costumes do a polka and a spirited side step accompanied by the music of Jacques Offenbach before cancan girls appear with skirts lifted, kicking high into the air. Tumblers and other trick dancers punctuate the proceedings as balloons fly and streamers fall before the ensemble begins an extended follow-the –leader pattern (recalling Pan’s characteristic serpentine lines) and the prince and Kathie dance into a corridor where a dialogue scene continues. This fairly brief but highly energetic bit of spectacle took Pan four weeks of rehearsal to perfect.
With the exception of a grand waltz during in which the prince and his fiancée (Betta St. John) dance briefly and a simple lift during Prince Karl and Kathie’s singing of “Deep in My Heart,” the rest of Pan’s staging for the film is virtually devoid of dance steps, accounting, perhaps, for his screen credit, “Musical numbers staged by Hermes Pan.” Again Hermes was in his element, raising normal day-to-day experience to another more aesthetically organized level of behavior that appears spontaneous and natural both for the actor and for the viewer. No sooner did “The Student Prince” complete filming on 16 January 1954 than Pan was at work in script conferences for another period spectacle, an ancient Roman affair called “Jupiter’s Darling” with a score by Burton Lane and Harold Adamson, a friend of Pan’s since “As the Girls Go,” and starring Esther Williams.”
Steff
Steff
Maybe my answer comes a little late:
You can watch the video with the helicopter on the website of “Cinecitta Luce”
http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/
Just search for “Mario Lanza” then a few results (“risultati”) will pop up (film footage and photos)
The helicopter video can be found as second result “Varietà Roma – primo ciack per il film “Arriverderci Roma”
Have a look too at the other results. The first result, for example (start at about minute 3:00), shows ZsaZsa Gabor and her daughter arriving in Rome, and Mario with FTFT director Rudy Maté in Rome (start at about minute 2:50). This footage also can be watched on you-tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_WaQm8VNLA
Sorry, I could not locate the other two videos you were looking for. It seems that they were removed (I think the videos once were put on you-tube by “Stoltapaura”) .
Derek McGovern
Hi Steff: Thanks for answering my query about Lanza's German pronunciation.
Interesting that you find it better than his French! Armando and I once asked a French tenor to rate Mario's pronunciation in his commercial recording of the Flower Song and also on "Pour un Baiser." The verdict was "very good" for the former and "not so good" for the latter :) So I guess you could say he was inconsistent in that language.
Still, the man was clearly gifted at languages---as one might expect from a person of great musicality (and also a talented mimic).
Cheers
Derek
Steff
Hi Derek
As you know, French is not my native language (I took French lessons at school for some years) but since we live close to France we are very much familiar with the sound of the French language.
I had a listen to both of Mario's recordings of Bizet's flower song, the TONO filmsoundtrack version and the commercial rendition from April 1950. I would say that in both, his French pronunciation is "comme ci, come ca" or "so, la,la," but in any case the 1950 version is significantly better. His French is very inconstant (even within the same recording), some words and phrases sound perfect, others certainly do not. I cannot agree with the French tenor who regards the 1950 aria "very good" when it comes to the pronunciation. He should re-listen and pay attention carefully to and focus on words such as "tu," "prison," "pendant," "sur," "a seul desire" and "regard" (in-ear-headphones help immensely). However, Mario does it quite well (I don't notice any American or Italian accent, is there any?), compared to some other tenors I had a listen to on you-tube (a good pronunciation have, in my opinion, Alagna - no surprise with his Sicilian-French background- and -maybe more surprisingly- Giuseppe di Stefano.
I agree re "Pour a Baiser," in this case I even have the trouble to understand the lyrics he sings (so this might be one of the few cases among his recordings where Mario lacks his famous perfect diction?).
I think the French language was just not his "cup of tea." "Magari" to say it in Italian!
Steff
Joseph Fagan
Derek McGovern
Not a dumb question at all, Joe. I imagine that most bilingual people would answer that they primarily think in their mother tongue *except* when they're speaking their second language. I know that when I went through a month or so in Italy of speaking purely in Italian, I certainly had the sensation of thinking in that language rather than translating from English all the time.
Mind you, there are linguists and cognitive experts who argue that we don't actually think in any language; rather we think in what they call "mentalese"---but recall our thoughts in our first language.
Cheers
Derek
Derek McGovern
A P.S. to the above: if you were hoping to hear from Armando himself, Joe, you may have to wait a while, as he's currently travelling around Italy. But we do have quite a few other bilingual---or even multilingual---members who may want to share their thoughts on this subject.
Derek McGovern
Hi Steff: Lanza once acknowledged that he didn't speak French well, though I still think he had a better grasp of its pronounciation (when he put his mind to it) than many a non-French tenor. But no, I don't feel he was innately suited to singing in French.
I think it's essential for a singer to be fluently comfortable in a language to do it justice in song. Without that linguistic ease, interpretation becomed stilted. Carreras, for example, always sounds infinitely better in Italian and French to my ears than he does in English (even in his heyday). In English his phrasing and sense of line tends to falter, and he mispronounces words or cuts off final consonants (though I still cherish his singing of "Maria" in West Side Story).
Cheers
Derek
Michael McAdam
Savage
Joe,
Heidi
Derek McGovern
Hi Heidi: I'm sorry that you feel you wasted your money on the For the First Time DVD! While, like you, I much prefer the sound quality on the 1990s VHS (which could only be bettered if it were in stereo), overall I was happy with the picture quality despite the odd fluctuation in colour from scene to scene. It's better to look at than the somewhat washed-out laserdisc and, unlike the VHS, we get the whole picture rather than the TV version with its sides chopped off.
Serenade remains the best of the DVDs for my money. The sound is wonderful and the picture quality is very good.
Very nice to receive confirmation from both you and Steff that Mario's German pronunciation was not to be sneezed at!
Cheers
Derek
George Laszlo
Derek McGovern
Steff
leeann
Just briefly for now--delightfully, there's also a six minute bit here in English where Armando talks to Roberto Scandurro about the meeting between Mario Lanza and Renata Tebaldi in 1955. Just splendid. (http://bit.ly/PQdOt1) Best, Lee Ann
leeann
Please use this link to Armando's recounting the meeting in English: http://bit.ly/S69q9L LEe Ann
Joseph Fagan
Derek McGovern
What a delight to wake up this morning to these YouTube offerings! They don't come much more eloquent and personable than Armando, and I'm very grateful to Roberto Scandurra for making these interviews available.
Steff: You were wondering what Armando was talking about in the interview in Italian. The first part was basically the recounting of Tebaldi's meeting with Lanza, and then Armando went on to talk about the favourable reactions of critics during Lanza's European tour, focusing on one observation about the size of his voice ("double that of Bjoerling"). Roberto brought up the fact that it's also obvious from Mario's recordings that he possessed a lirico spinto voice---in other words, a voice big enough to tackle the meaty roles of Chenier, Canio, etc. Roberto also made the point that the 13/14 numbers that Lanza sang in his recitals were proof that he could have sustained an operatic role. Armando agreed, pointing out that Dorothy Kirsten had told him that Lanza had the vocal stamina "to sing for hours."
Other things that Armando discussed: Callinicos' worth as a conductor on Lanza's operatic recordings, Licia Albanese's opinion of Lanza, the impact of Mario's MGM contract on his budding operatic career, and his extraordinary diction anf phrasing.
Fantastic stuff!
Cheers
Derek
Steff
Michael McAdam
Derek McGovern
Michael McAdam
jorain123
Derek McGovern
I do wish to point out one thing though: I firmly believe pic. # 35 is mis-labeled? . . . if you look at his age,weight and the "high pompadour " hairdo you'll realize it is a 1955 photo of him likely listening to a playback of one of his Otello takes? (a slightly-out-of-focus Licia Albanese at extreme right should be the clincher there).
Well spotted, Mike! I've now moved it into its correct spot chronologically and relabeled it.
By the way, there was one photo that Steff had sent from the 1952 Coke session mentioned a couple of posts back that I didn't add to our main site. I omitted it as I felt it was a bit unflattering to poor old Mario, but you be the judge:
Derek McGovern
Michael McAdam
Derek McGovern
leeann
It often seems as if Lanza and the wardrobe department just didn't have a relationship. Just take, For the First Time as an example--actually, maybe Seven Hills as well--where Lanza remains in suits (badly fitting, overly-boxy suits) regardless of the venue or the occasion while others are in situation-appropriate clothing. Perhaps just another testament to the force of his persona, that somehow you can look, laugh, get over it, and just watch and listen to the man.
But really, staying with For the First Time, it's too bad the Bücken's didn't plan Mario's daily wardrobe, given the smashing job they did on the operatic scenes! Best, Lee Ann