Extended interview with Mario Lanza (in Italian) now available at Mario Lanza, Tenor

[Derek McGovern]

I've just uploaded (for the first time) the full version of Lanza's spoken contributions to the RAI radio program "La Mia Vita per il Canto" (My Life for Singing). This was recorded in September 1959---just a few weeks before Lanza died---and broadcast on October 4, 1959:

https://www.mariolanzatenor.com/audio-interviews.html#family

While there are both fibs and exaggerations (e.g. Lanza claims to be 34, when he was actually 38, and he lies about both his height and his weight), it's fascinating to note how happy and well he sounds so close to his death.

 

[simonb...@gmail.com]

It is fantastic to hear this interview after many years.  He did not 'fib' about his age, merely the year he was born...  ... venti-cinque...  haha!!!!  By that stage of his career and the abuse he had inflicted on himself I doubt if anyone would have thought he was 34...  I particularly enjoyed his recounting of the dialects he heard in South Philadelphia... and was greatly heartened by his comment about the wallet...  however he seemed remarkably coherent and understandable in Italian... 

The thing that struck me most however was the 'color' of his speaking voice, which is remarkably light in tone in comparison to his interviews in English in the preceding year or so, in which the color of his speaking voice was dark in tone.  It makes me wonder if he made a conscious effort to either lighten or darken his voice depending on what he was doing.  In his recordings of Neapolitan songs, such as the Caruso Favorites album, his voice was dark, however his voice on the 1959 Student Prince recordings was considerably lighter...  I am wondering if he had the ability to change colors....   It is noticeable that the color of his voice became lighter on recordings when he was preparing for movies...  

[norma]

Please,please,is there any chance someone could translate this interview.

Norma

[norma]

Has my request for a translation been received?

[Derek McGovern]

I've just re-uploaded the spoken segments of "La Mia Vita per il Canto," as I found out today that the final two minutes had somehow been left off. You can now hear the closing banter between Mario and Betty, including the moment when (heartbreakingly) they mention their plan to remain in Italy for another three years:

https://www.mariolanzatenor.com/audio-interviews.html#family

For me the most interesting bits are Mario's reminiscences about his teacher Enrico Rosati (starting around the seven-minute mark). He refers to the 15-odd months when he was studying with Rosati (in 1946-47) as the most beautiful period of his life, and acknowledges that this may seem a surprising admission. But I'm sure he was being honest here.

By the way, the Lanza recordings that were featured on this programme were: Because You're Mine (RCA), 'O Surdato 'Nnammurato, O Soave Fanciulla (with Jean Fenn), Yours Is My Heart Alone (RCA), and The Donkey Serenade (RCA).

Hi Simon: Yes, technically he didn't say he was 34, but claiming that he was born in 1925 when he later goes on to state that he gave his first concert in 1939 is just ridiculous! I don't know why Mario felt compelled to fib about his age----was it because he was reluctant to acknowledge that time was running out for his return to opera?---especially since it would have been so easy for any interviewer to question why a 17-year-old (as he would have been in December 1942, if he really was born in 1925!) had been drafted into the US Army :)  And, as you pointed out, there was no way he could have passed for 34 in 1959! In much of For the First Time, he looked a decade older than his then 37 years.

I think his voice sounds lighter here simply because he was speaking in Italian. But you're right that as far as his singing was concerned, Mario was able to lighten or darken his tone at will. We hear that as early as his first commercial session for RCA when he produces a suitably darker tone for "Celeste Aida," but lightens his tone for a more appropriately lyric sound on "Che gelida manina." He knew what he was doing!

Norma: One of the reasons I was reluctant to upload the complete spoken bits of this programme is that I knew someone would then ask for an English translation!:) I think it would be a very tedious task to translate 15 minutes of rapid-fire chatter, and therefore too much of an imposition on our Italian speakers. But, honestly, even with very limited knowledge of Italian, several listeners have already told me that they managed to get the gist of much of what Mario is talking about here. So why not give it a go yourself? Consider it a fun linguistic challenge!

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: I keep forgetting to thank Armando Cesari, without whose efforts we would not have been able to hear this complete RAI interview.

[Palmarola2012]

Thank you Derek:  It was a good interview and Mario impressed me with his Italian since he probably grew up speaking a dialect.  He seemed quite happy and the fact that he wanted to continue to live in Italy showed that he was content and had hopes for new beginnings.  I was not able to hear any of the recordings but I am sure they represented well his talent to the Italian public that was listening.

Please refresh my memory:  I assume this was done in the early fall of 1959.  I believe Mario had plans to open the season at San Carlo and do several more movies and a TV program just before he died.  Is this accurate?

Again, thank you.  All the best, Emilio

[Derek McGovern]

Ciao Emilio:

Glad you enjoyed the interview. I only posted Mario's spoken contributions to the programme, as the whole thing runs for 43 minutes, making the file a bit large to upload in one go. And apart from the five musical items I listed in my post above, there's quite a bit of preamble from the Italian hosts, plus a snatch of Caruso singing, and then a long instrumental version of "Granada" at the end. So you're not really missing anything by hearing only Mario's spoken contributions.

At the end of the programme, the male host announces that the second part (of what was going to be a four-part series) would be broadcast a week later: on October 11, 1959. The second programme was broadcast on that day, but of course Mario had passed away four days earlier. The second programme features a repeat of the section with Mario and his family (plus the Great Caruso soundtrack versions of "Vesti la giubba" and "Because"), but there is no new spoken material, since presumably he hadn't got around to recording the second installment. That suggests that RAI was planning to interview him again very close to the date of broadcast. (Remember that he was scheduled to leave the Valle Giulia clinic on 8 October.)

I would say the interview was recorded in late September 1959, shortly before he entered the clinic. 

Mario was certainly full of plans at the time of his death. These included tours and a TV special, plus the filming of "Granada" for the German producer Artur Brauner's company. (Brauner confirmed this a few years ago.) He was also planning to film Laugh Clown Laugh. But it wasn't San Carlo (to the best of my knowledge) that he was hoping to make his return to opera at---it was the Rome Opera House. He had been in discussions with the management there to sing a one-off performance as Canio in Pagliacci in the 1960-61 season. More operatic performances were to follow if the first proved successful. (Armando discusses this in his book on page 275 of the second edition.)    

Cheers,

Derek 

[Palmarola2012]

Grazie Derek, regards from Rome,  Emilio

[simonb...@gmail.com]

Ciao tutti....

It would be fairly easy to give a spoken translation while listening, but translating word for word in written form would indeed be an extremely laborious and thankless task.  Norma do you know any Italian speakers who could sit down with you and listen and translate as they are speaking?    

[norma]

I can hear Mario's extended interview on my IPad but not the other interviews on the forum page.Does anyone know why?

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Norma: To play the interviews on our Audio: Interviews page, or to listen to the various rare concert and home recordings here, you'll need to install "Flash" on your IPad. Usually a message will pop up when you try to play a recording, giving you the option of allowing or blocking Flash. It should look like this:

If you see the above, simply click on "Allow," and then all the recordings on that page should play. 

[Derek McGovern]

Norma posted a couple of weeks back that she was unable to play any of the audio interviews on our main site, except for the recently uploaded one in Italian. I've since discovered the technical reason for this, and so I've now re-uploaded almost all of the interviews, as well as the various concert performances and private recordings featured here. This was a laborious task, but worth it if these fascinating recordings now play for everyone. 

So Norma: could you kindly check our audio interviews page and let me know if you're able to play most of the clips there? (The only one I haven't re-uploaded is the 1949 one with Jinx Falkenburg.)    

[Norma Lynch]

Thank you for your response to my request.I haven't been able. to hear these recordings for a while. Thanks again for all you do.

                                                                     Norma Lynch

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Norma: It's your lucky day!

In a marathon effort, Steff (Stefanie Walzinger) has translated the entire 1959 RAI interview into English for us. (Thank you so much, Steff!!!) Armando very kindly then edited the transcription, which can now be read here:

https://www.mariolanzatenor.com/audio-interviews.html#family

Enjoy!    

[Steff Walzinger]

Hi Derek,

 

You are very welcome. As I told you I have never learned Italian, yet seem to be blessed with the „talent“ to understand this beautiful language quite well, so the translation was a challenge but also great fun. Actually, I don’t think that I would have ventured doing a translation from Italian to German! Fortunately, Mario kept his „speaking tempo“ in a moderate way most of the time (I gave up when he talked about Betty shouting at him („quando strille a me“ or when he talked about being „fritto“ meaning that he was smitten) and his pronounciation was clear – although sometimes with grammatical „incorrectness“ - deviations from „standard Italian“ due to his Abruzzese backgrounds.

 

Ah, and before anybody remarks that Ellisa Lanza’s name is written wrong in the printed interview („Elissa“ – with double „s“ and only one ‚l“) I have to say that this spelling was intentional. Here Armando, as a native Italian speaker, was more attentive than I was. Mario indeed pronounces Ellisa’s name as „Elissa.“ Speaking of pronounciation and spelling I noticed, by the way, that Mario called himself Alfredo Arnaldo (not Arnoldo) Cocozza!

 

Last but not least I thought it interesting – and I had not noticed this years ago - that Betty and Mario used the term „tante belle cose“ – virtually a way to say „the very best of everything in Italian,“ I’d suppose.

 

I have to thank Armando for his great support and for taking the time in proof-reading and correcting my text,for filling the gaps and putting the finishing touches on the interview. I suppose we both replayed the interview again and again, a billion times, to catch each word and to make a virtually 1:1 translation. And thank you Derek, for displaying it so nicely on the interview page of this website.

Now everybody cannot only understand the quintessence of the interview but each spoken word. I hope you all enjoy!

 

Steff