The Off-Topic Chat Thread (2019-2020)

[Derek McGovern]

Please use this thread for any miscellaneous posts not related to Mario Lanza. This is the ideal thread for posting greetings, exchanging general chit-chat, or for making comments on non-Lanza-related topics that are unlikely to extend to more than a few posts.

(Members are welcome, of course, to create separate discussion threads for non-Lanza-related topics that they feel are likely to spark a full-on conversation.)

For miscellaneous Lanza-related comments and/or questions, please post on this thread:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mariolanza/r3k-HEkVeOE/v_OukdNCFQAJ

[Derek McGovern]

Just a reminder that we have this thread for general chit-chat that isn't really Lanza related. 

[jora...@gmail.com]

Is there anyway a regular consumer, like myself, can get data on CD sales of a singer like Lanza?. I am sure such data must be available someplace. Moreover, I am always interested in the demographics, e.g. what country buys the most Lanza-related items. One might guess that USA, his home country , would lead in sales but our tastes are so fickle I would not be surprised if it were another country altogether. Just curious.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: I would love to know the answers to your questions, but precise data would be next to impossible to locate, I would say. In an article for Bill Ronayne's Legacy of Mario Lanza newsletter some years back, lawyer Roland Bessette (who presumably had access to details of royalties payments to the Lanza estate) provided the disappointing sales numbers for then recent Lanza releases, but they were only for "official" Sony CDs. In Europe, which has different copyright laws from the US, there have been numerous non-Sony/BMG releases, and it's anyone's guess as to how many copies have been sold of those non-official CDs. It may well be that some of those European "bootleg" CDs, as Derek Mannering likes to describe them, have outsold the official CDs, especially when they offer the superior selections and outstanding booklet presentation found on, say, the six Sepia Records CDs that have been released since 2015. 

I would guess that the US still leads in terms of Lanza CD sales, but the UK can't be far behind. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the UK has overtaken the US. But remember that we're probably talking about fewer than a couple of thousand CD sales a year worldwide, given the dramatic decline in the popularity of CDs in recent years. 

[jora...@gmail.com]

Thanks Derek, maybe we will have better luck with Sepia.

[Derek McGovern]

I've just learned that the wonderful lyric soprano Mirelli Freni has passed away at the age of 84:

https://slippedisc.com/2020/02/just-in-mirella-freni-is-dead/

[Steff Walzinger]

Hello to all,

On the occasion of Enrico Caruso's birthday today, 25 February,  I'd like to share the attached article with boyhood memories by a friend of Caruso's.

Steff

[Palmarola2012]

Thank you Steff.  Splendid article. All the best. Emilio 

Sent from my BlackBerry — the most secure mobile device

From: Stefanie....@t-online.de Sent: 25 February 2020 11:15 AM To: mario...@googlegroups.com Reply to: mario...@googlegroups.com Subject: [Mario Lanza] Re: The Off-Topic Chat Thread (2019-2020)

Hello to all,

On the occasion of Enrico Caruso's birthday today, 25 February,  I'd like to share the attached article with boyhood memories by a friend of Caruso's.

Steff

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[Steff Walzinger]

Hello to all,

Today, 2 August, 99 years ago, the famous Italian tenor Enrico Caruso passed away in Naples at the age of 48.

„The death of Caruso ends one of the most brilliant careers in musical history. All the world will remember him, not alone for his glorious voice and untiring devotion to art, but for his human qualities, his generous heart and his heroic struggle in his last long illness.“  (Amelity-Galli-Curci, 3 August 1921)

"It was not only upon his voice that Caruso's popularity depended; it was the man's great heart and kindly personality that endeared him even to people who had never heard him sing (Antonio Scotti, September 1921).

„To us who were part of the organization in which he was a star he was the embodiment of kindness, good humor and friendliness. I speak for the people who work behind the scenes, the electricians, the scene shifters, stage hands, property men, costumers and doormen. His personality was so genial. He was generosity itself. Even the least of the workmen felt his kindness. As he passed each one there was always a salutation – no commonness, no loss of personal dignity – just friendly good fellowship. With all his good humor Caruso had a natural dignity, and he was respected and loved by all those who saw him back stage. No one ever came to Caruso in want and went away empty-handed. Here he was a veritable Santa Claus to all the working force. On Christmas he remembered everyone, and his manner of remembering each was enhanced by the personal kindness accompanying all [illegible] I could tell you incidents without number of cases where Caruso stepped into a breach and helped needy persons […]. In all the years he was here I can remember no unpleasant incident for which he was responsible. Certainly his glorious voice could not have been intrusted to a man more worthy of caring for and using it. He was serious in his work and generous in his treatment of those working with him. It is needless to try to tell you the loss we feel and, as I said I speak for the workers behind the curtain.“ (Edward Siedle, technical director of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, 3 August 1921)

Steff

[Derek McGovern]

A message to Irina: You mentioned in a post on another thread that, sadly, you and your friends are not able to visit our main site, mariolanzatenor.com, from Russia. 

I've done some research on the traffic to our site using Google Analytics, and it turns out that sometime in April the site was blocked to Russian internet users. 

The map below shows in blue which countries visitors to our site were in as of April 1:

 

But by May 1st, no one in Russia was visiting---and, according to Google Analytics, that remains the case today:

Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about this situation, other than to suggest that you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to bypass the Russian censors' restrictions. I don't have much experience with VPNs, but I know they're commonly used by people, say, in China who want to access "forbidden" sites such as YouTube. Perhaps one of our members could give you some advice on getting a VPN (they are available for free, I understand).

Here, by the way, is a list showing the countries that the largest number of visitors currently come from:

  

[kuzmishinairina]

   Thank you very much that you've paid so much attention to my complaint. I'm not a very skilled user, but will try to ask  somebody to help me with bypass, as I appreciate your  site very high, for  me it was the best and the most informative. I still hope to visit it in future. 

     Thank you! 

Отправлено с устройства Samsung.

-------- Исходное сообщение --------

От: Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

Дата: 07.08.2020 5:52 (GMT+03:00)

Кому: "Mario Lanza, Tenor" <mario...@googlegroups.com>

Тема: [Mario Lanza] Re: The Off-Topic Chat Thread (2019-2020)

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[Steff Walzinger]

Hi there,

I came across this you-tube video in which Richard Bonynge talks about Luciano Pavarotti.

A very good analysis of the tenor, in my opionion, and I see some similarities to Mario Lanza.

Steff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYJ8Wp2U6w8