Hearing Lanza Live: A Fantasy Question

[Derek McGovern]

I put this fun question (in the form of a poll) to the old Lanza Yahoo forum members about seven years, and I thought I'd revive it here for discussion.

If you could have heard Lanza live at any point in his career, when would it have been -- and why?

I'm thinking essentially of the following periods or occasions:

1942: Lanza's operatic debut in The Merry Wives of Windsor at Tanglewood
1947-48: During the Bel Canto Trio tour
1948: As Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly
1951: During the so-called "Lanza Bonanza" recital tour of the US
1957: At the London Palladium (Royal Variety Show and/or Sunday Night at the London Palladium)
1958: During his final (European) recital tour

Cheers
Derek

[Vincent Di Placido]

I would have to choose 1947-48 & more specifically his first Hollywood Bowl performance with Frances Yeend in August 1947. I have always had a fantasy about being able to see & hear this performance live & maybe catch Mario backstage & give him a heads up on a few bad choices he was going to make :-)

I think it must have been an amazing night & the atmosphere must have been electric, if the audience's reaction is anything to go by, I know the music & performances were top drawer from the recording but to actually be there & see & hear young Mario on what turned out to be an audition for superstardom would be fantastic.

If I could settle for a 2nd choice I would select that last European tour, on his best night :-) I would love to hear his fantatsic later rich voice live & again maybe catch Mario backstage & give him a heads up on a few bad choices he was going to make :-( 

[Savage]

It would have been the final concert in Kiel, Germany. There must
have been some special magic in the voice that night as reported by
Costa. As much as I love the young Lanza voice this still would be my
choice. It's sad that there was no recording of the event. What an
evening it must have been!

David.

On Jan 16, 8:07 am, Derek McGovern <derek.mcgov...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I put this fun question (in the form of a poll) to the old Lanza Yahoo forum
> members about seven years, and I thought I'd revive it here for discussion.

> *

> If you could have heard Lanza live at any point in his career, when would it

> have been -- and why? *

>
> I'm thinking essentially of the following periods or occasions:
>

> *1942*: Lanza's operatic debut in *The Merry Wives of Windsor* at Tanglewood
> *1947-48:* During the Bel Canto Trio tour
> *1948: *As Pinkerton in *Madama Butterfly*
> *1951: *During the so-called "Lanza Bonanza" recital tour of the US
> *1957: *At the London Palladium (Royal Variety Show and/or Sunday Night at
> the London Palladium)
> *1958:* During his final (European) recital tour
>
> Cheers
> Derek

[Michael McAdam]

Like David, I think I would opt for the Kiel concert as my first choice (lived close to that fair town for the four years I was in Deutschland). Did anyone besides Callinicos single out this performance on his tour? I believe there were some critical reviews in the local 'Zeitungen'? 

 

Like others here I love that latter-day spinto timbre of Mario's so would likely pick his RAH concert as my second choice. Sure.....young, lyrical Mario had magic in his voice but the Mario of the final years had more visceral appeal for me.

 

It does seem to be an oversight of travesty proportions that no record company bod or even a fan recorded a single Lanza concert during his 1951 concert swing. After all, he was the new US (and 'world') singing phenom and...then, for all and sundry to be asleep at the wheel during his final 1958 tour also? Ach du liebe !!

[Joseph Fagan]

I would have loved being in the recording studio when he did the takes for the Student Prince!.......Joe

[Tonytenor]

Oh goodness, this is indeed a hard one. Hard because as those who
have posted so far have noted and as you Derek know all too well,
there are compelling reasons to see Mario at all the stages in his
life/career that you mention. Given everything, I think I would chose
the final tour period and perhaps the Kiel, Germany concert given what
has been said about it and, as you noted Derek, even Costa remembered
it as a highlight during what I have to believe was, in general was
percieved by him as a somewhat mediocre tour in general. Certainly
not the Lanza Bonaza Tour. I think to hear the mature Lanza voice
would be such a complete musical experience. You would not just be
hearing the voice but at that point in time the artist too. The
artist that chose to sing "Santa Lucia luntana" in a lower key, not to
go for the vocal histrionics and leave the listener with a truly
memorable experience. This is the same singer that made the same sort
of artistic choices for Tosti's beautiful and searing "Ideale." So
why would one not want to see and HEAR the artist Mario Lanza at this
stage in his career - physical problems aside. At this point, Lanza
was as close to being the "finished" artist he spoke of all those
years before to Jinx Faulkenberg. This is precisely why I chose the
"Lamento di Federico" from the RAH as my first choice. No, it's not
the voice at its healthiest, but it's the artist at his most developed
and I think that would be the most compelling and stunning experience
for the audience.

On Jan 17, 7:44 am, Michael McAdam <macadame...@ns.sympatico.ca>
wrote:

[Derek McGovern]

Interesting replies from everyone; keep 'em coming, folks!

Tony: I wouldn't say the 1958 tour was "mediocre" exactly. There were quite a few cancellations (most of them for legitimate reasons too -- unlike Mario's 1949 tour if Callinicos is to be believed!), and a few lesser performances (eg, Paris and Rotterdam), but many of the 22 recitals that Lanza did sing were well received critically -- and audiences loved him. He received excellent reviews for his appearances in Sheffield, Leicester, Manchester, Hanover, and Kiel, among others, while there are glowing firsthand accounts of his concerts at Stuttgart and Ostend from John Coast and from knowledgeable fans of his Albert Hall, Edinburgh and Belfast appearances. (In fact, check out Vince's father's reminiscences of the Edinburgh recital here.) Even at Rotterdam -- generally regarded as a disappointment -- where the critic of the Algemeen Dagblad criticized him for being "a badly behaved boy" and providing "a strange, artistically unsatisfying evening," the audience was very enthusiastic. Interestingly, Lanza also earned grudging praise there from music critic Leo Riemens of the Kutsch-Riemens Sgerlexicon -- "an absolute Lanza-basher who hated every record the tenor made" (according to one member of the Opera-L forum) for the very pleasing colour of his voice and its size -- a voice almost double that of Bjoerling.   

As I've mentioned here before, though, what I would love to read is a professional review of the first (or even second) Albert Hall recital. It's odd that not one has ever shown up.

Mike: It wasn't just Callinicos who singled out the Kiel recital. Mario received a rave review for his efforts from music critic Dr. Kurt Klukist of the Lubrecher Nachricten. (See Armando's book, pg. 253.) 

Yes, it's ridiculous that not a single one of the 1951 concerts was recorded. I can understand why RCA was content to record just one appearance during the 1958 tour -- the Royal Albert Hall being arguably the most prestigious venue that he sang at -- but, oh, I wish that a German "techie" had thought to record, say, the Stuttgart or Kiel recitals on the sly :)

Cheers

Derek

 

[zsazsa]

I would like to hear and see Mario live During the Bel Canto Trio
Tour, because he sing many things that he never sung later or I`ve
never heard him singing them live by Mario. Also, I think, that he was
in a very great spiritual and physical condition. And I think that it
was a very happy and important time for him and a delight for all, who
were lucky enough to take part.
Cheers
Susan

On 16 Jan., 14:07, Derek McGovern <derek.mcgov...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I put this fun question (in the form of a poll) to the old Lanza Yahoo forum
> members about seven years, and I thought I'd revive it here for discussion.

> *

> If you could have heard Lanza live at any point in his career, when would it

> have been -- and why? *

>
> I'm thinking essentially of the following periods or occasions:
>

> *1942*: Lanza's operatic debut in *The Merry Wives of Windsor* at anglewood

> *1947-48:* During the Bel Canto Trio tour
> *1948: *As Pinkerton in *Madama Butterfly*

> *1951: *During the so-called "Lanza Bonanza" recital tour of the US
> *1957: *At the London Palladium (Royal Variety Show and/or Sunday Night at
> the London Palladium)
> *1958:* During his final (European) recital tour
>
> Cheers
> Derek