David Weaver's post on Rense's forum
Armando
With staunch supporters of Mario Lanza such as David Weaver who needs enemies?
I have just read Mr. Weaver’s post on Rense’s forum where he opines that Rudolph Bing couldn’t have cared less whether Lanza sang at the Met or not since he had a roster of tenors under contract in the 50s that included Jussi Bjorling, Richard Tucker, Mario del Monaco, Kurt Baum, Ramon Vinay, and Jan Peerce.
What Mr. Weaver seems to ignore is that the autocratic Bing was essentially a businessman with his eyes fixed firmly on the box-office and also shrewd enough to realize that Lanza would have been a bigger drawcard than all the others tenors combined.
Bing was also sufficiently knowledgeable in musical matters to realise that whatever Lanza said publicly was merely talk, as it was more than unlikely that the tenor was going to choose the Metroplitan, of all places, to mark his return to opera.
Mr. Weaver further states, “If his nostril-flaring, eyeball-popping emoting as Otello in SERENADE is any indication, he'd have been as hammy a performer as many accuse Del Monaco of being.”
I find this particular comment more than odd. After all Mr. Weaver prides himself of being a singer with a considerable career and one presumes knowledge of both singing and acting. I say this because for the last five years I have been friendly with the French tenor Jacques Pottier who for ten years was principal tenor with the Paris Opera and who now resides in Melbourne.
When we first met, Jacques told me how much he admired Del Monaco, whom he had heard in person, and what a great Otello he had been. I disagreed, explained why, and then asked him what he thought of Lanza’s Otello monologue and excerpt from the duet in Serenade. Much to may surprise he hadn’t seen the film so I made him a DVD copy of the NTSC video.
Upon viewing it, Jacques immediately called me and told me what a fantastic Otello Lanza would have been on the stage-he found the Serenade sequences simply mind blowing and considered Lanza far superior as both a singer and actor to Del Monaco whom, upon seeing again in a number of videos, found totally hammy and ridiculous.
Among other things Mr. Weaver also wrote,
“In show business,
there are a number of awards for Lifetime Achievement. To date, no one has
created an award for "Lifetime Potential." If they ever do, Mario
will win it hands down.
Or, if they ever establish a Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Hall of Fame - "Mario
Lanza in Opera" will merit a whole wing. You'll reach it via the
"Unfulfilled Dreams" lobby passing thru the "Wait Until Next
Year" green room to the "Consumed by Guilt over the Path Not
Taken" staircase and crossing over the "The Good Stuff is Coming
Pop" Bridge.
When you arrive in the wing, you'll find a large exhibition hall that's dark
and empty except for two small spotlights, each shining on one picture: Mario
as Fenton and Mario as Pinkerton.
"Mario Lanza in Opera."
Not a chapter in the history of opera - but a very interesting footnote”
Mr. Weaver’s sarcastic remarks and feeble attempt at humour will no doubt be welcomed by those that have been preaching the same mantra for years, while others, with a modicum of intelligence will come to their own conclusion.
Derek McGovern
Ciao Armando: I'm not currently able to access the Rense forum, so I'll hold off commenting directly for now until I've read David's complete post.
I'll say this, though: for someone who recently said he listens to Lanza "once in a blue moon," regards the man himself as "seriously screwed up," and cares little for any of his post-1952 work (films and recordings)---even disliking the "Mario!" album so much that he returned it to his record store for a refund---David Weaver certainly posts prolifically about the man (and on two forums!). I don't get it.
leeann
Or rubbish about rubbish. Lee Ann
Michael McAdam
Armando
Hi Mike: Initially DVD players in Australia were strictly zone 4 only. But like most things in life there were ways around this, so when I bought my first player back in 2000 I had it modified to enable it to play all zones.
Since then the majority of players on the market are automatically sold as multizone and TV sets can play both PAL and NTSC formats.It’s different with recorders, as only a few will record in NTSC.
Speaking of Jacques, he simply can’t get enough of Lanza. He calls it his daily fix!
When we met he didn’t know a great deal about Mario other than seeing him in The Great Caruso when the film was originally shown in Paris. He also remembers there was a lot of talk in operatic circles about Lanza presumed inability to perform in opera for one reason or another.
Having since become almost an expert on Lanza (I gave him DVDs of all the films plus a couple of documentaries and the live Palladium performance) he dismisses any notion that Mario would have been unable to be a success as an opera singer and categorically states, and I quote, “The reason Mario Lanza was not singing in opera is because he had unusual good looks and could act well enough to be convincing in a film. On top of this he had a voice without equal, a strong personality and a way of communicating to an audience that I find simply irresistible.” And he adds, “ And who would not want the fame and huge sums of money that films can give you? If I had been offered a film contract I would have done the same!”
I should state that other than giving Jacques the above mentioned DVDs I have been careful to say very little in order not to influence him in any way, so I was more than pleased when he responded in a such an enthusiastic way to the point that Mario is now his all time favourite tenor whom he rates above all others, including Caruso.
And believe me, when it comes to technique, Jacques knows his stuff!
Armando
Derek McGovern
With all due respect to Mr. Weaver, his opinion of Lanza's acting in those Serenade operatic sequences matters less to me than that of Jacques Pottier and Licia Albanese :)
danu...@msn.com
forums the past year but there seems to be a consistant pot-shoting
from mr weaver and mr mannering on lanzas voice from 1955 onward or
his opera recordings or weather lanza could actualy perform opera.i
was deeply disappointed in martinos post taking armando to task saying
hes speaking down to us or more or less implying armando was verbaly
assaulting them.i totaly disagree.the points on bings eye towards the
cash register is a great point.another i feel if lanza were to go back
into opera in any form the lascala not the met would of been his first
choice.
yes the young lanza voice had a refreshing beauty that perhaps was
unmatched and a carefree throw caution to the wind fearless approach
and indeed was the voice that attracted most of us to lanza and opera.
the older voice had more power.far more debth weight and artistic
magnificense especialy in opera as well as the unmatched
interpetations in the italian classics.how anyone with an ear cannot
realize the italian songs sung by the young mario were basicaly poor
singing.yes the voice was great the beauty awsome but you can be in
great voice and still have terrible singing.
the lanza the older one gives us versions of artistic interpetation
that only pippo can match.the passion is done with that in mind and
well placed.the fullness and richness of the voice truly is one to
admire not downgrade.thoses later songs of the italian classics
seperates lanza not only from the young lanza but from caruso gigli
and anyone else.here lanza remains supreme..how can anyone with a ear
say the arias in seranade was poor.totaly the oposite.magnificent
indeed.the FTFT arias as good or better then anyone has ever sung
them.
i love both lanzas voices.the young 1948-54 and the older lanza voice
1955-1959..to dismiss the artistic intelligence and its vocal delivery
in opera and the italian classics to me is pot-shoting predudice and
ignorance.im feed up with tearing down the great singing lanza
delivered in that era.sorry if this seems harch.
yes the younger lanza voice shined in songs in english.the student
prince the song of india the christmas carols the lords prayer the be
my loves over the older lanza attempts but dont ignore the arias and
italian classics and artistic vocal beauty of the older lanza voice
which outshines the younger one also.
why cant anyone with a honest ear love both voices.theres more then
ample evidence to do so.please stop the unfair downgrading of lanza in
his later years..he deserves better then that from his so called
fans...dan marine
Derek McGovern
The telling thing, though, about those who regularly put down Lanza's later (1955-59) recordings---along with scoffing at the notion that he could ever have picked himself up & returned to the operatic stage---is that when you get down to it, they're usually not particularly interested in opera or operatic singing. It's the lighter Lanza of "Valencia" and other pleasant ditties that they're most enthused by. (Little wonder that Bocelli is apparently Derek Mannering's favourite living tenor.) "Di Rigori Armato" or the Otello Death Scene? No, thank you! And when it comes to Lanza's 1959 recordings, they're even less interested. On a Rense forum posting a few years back, Mr. Mannering dismissed Mario's 1959 output as "dreary" (although, curiously, in his 2004 Lanza bio, he describes the 1959 Caruso Favorites album as "outstanding from start to finish"---surely an overstatement, even to ardent admirers of that LP---and also gives high praise to The Desert Song), while Mr. Weaver has often opined that Lanza would be forgotten today if his reputation rested purely on his 1959 recordings.
Of course, people are entitled to like what they like, and I'm certainly not putting anyone down for preferring "Valencia" to Verdi, or Robert Goulet and Perry Como to any of the great operatic baritones. I also understand why Messrs Mannering and Weaver much prefer the younger Lanza voice. As you say, it had an unmatched refreshing beauty. "Dazzling"---to quote Derek Mannering. But the darker later voice was also beautiful in its own ethereal way, and still an extraordinary sound. Even at its heaviest, as on the Caruso Favorites album, it's still a much more satisfying voice (to my ears) than that of Corelli or Tucker or any other spinto tenor.
And, as you point out, to lovers of great singing, the later Mario (on a good day) is often the superior artist. But to those who respond first and foremost to sound---in this case, the youthful, breathtakingly beautiful Lanza voice of 1945-53---the actual quality of the singing will always be secondary (or, at worst, not considered or understood at all). That's why we have Mr. Mannering making the extraordinary claim in his book that Lanza's 1951 RCA recording of "Marechiare" is the definitive rendition of the song. But a beautiful, exciting voice alone does not a definitive recording make!
Cheers
Derek