Did anyone ever sound like Lanza?

[JOE]

In the late 50’s, Toni Dalli came out with a recording called “Just say I love her”…( lyrics set to the melody of dicitencello vuje)….which I thought sounded eerily like Mario. In fact, disc jockeys of the day were making that exact point e.g. after playing the recording they would remark; “ you just thought you heard Mario Lanza, but you didn’t…it was a singer named Toni Dalli “.I purchased the  45 RPM record of the recording  ( remember those?) and just about wore it out. Dalli, who I think became a nightclub owner in Spain, DID have a very nice voice. A video clip of him is attached. But it is interesting that in all these years, nobody that I know about even has resembled the golden voice of Lanza. Such was his unique greatness and the key to his longevity.. Tenors will come and go, but Lanza’s voice will be eternal (IMO).  Can anyone think of any other voice that resembles Lanza?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz0CYnnI0YA

 

[Armando]

Hi Joe,

There are similarities in the coloring of Dalli’s and Lanza’s voices, but Dalli’ Mattinata is simply a farce – a parody of the real thing. Had Dalli studied and aimed at being an individual rather than a poor imitator he might have achieved something more than the brief notoriety he gained by aping Lanza

[Joseph Fagan]

As an Italian and as a singer, I was sure you would know about Dalli,s background. I did not realize he was purposely trying to imitate Lanza. Unfortunate because His voice was not unpleasant. There is only one Mario, however!.....Joe

[Armando]

Dalli’s voice was far from unpleasant, Joe, what a pity he didn’t try to do more with it than simply being a poor copy of Lanza. 

[Steff]

Hi Joe,

Maybe you would like to read this interview: "Toni gives me a message - and a song lesson"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l1k-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=nEsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4687,604498&dq=toni+dalli&hl=en

At one point Toni Dalli got very tired of being compared with Mario Lanza (One newspaper note said that he belonged "to the Mario Lanza school of singers". In the interview which I gave you the link for he said: "I am tired of being called a second Mario Lanza. I admire Lanza very much - but he is Mario Lanza - and I am myself - Toni Dalli.

As for other tenors sounding like Mario Lanza, I think some time there may be a ressemblance with regard to a particular song/aria (or at least a few bars of it). Listening to the Mario! album, my untrained ears hear similarities here and there to Domingo. And Wunderlich's "Mattinata" reminds me of Lanza as well.(Maybe this statement has just proved my lack of musicality, LOL). Incidentally, when Wunderlich recorded "Be My Love," the only song he ever recorded in English language, this actually was an attempt to make him a "German Lanza," whichWunderlich never wanted to be.

Steff

[Joseph Fagan]

Thanks Steff, very interesting info! I have never heard Wunderlich's BML and I will have to look that one up. I know his "granada" is dynamite ( but a different version).

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: I listened to a bit of Dalli many years ago, and, like Armando, I did hear some similarities in his and Lanza's colouring. But I remember being turned off by the obvious attempt at copying Mario's way with a song---"Beloved," for example---as well as recording material associated with him (songs from "The Student Prince" and the like). Even Dalli's pose on the album cover was an obvious Lanza imitation. Much of this was probably at the behest of Dalli's recording company, but it's a shame he wasn't encouraged to be himself.

At one point, there was talk of Dalli playing Lanza in a film version---an odd idea, since Dalli spoke with an Italian accent. (Even John Coast thought that Dalli would be a suitable choice.) I'm glad it didn't happen, as presumably it would have been Dalli's singing voice on the soundtrack.

Like Steff, I do hear occasional similarities in Domingo's voice (not his upper register, though!) to Lanza's---and just in the upper reaches of Wunderlich's singing here, he reminds me a little of Mario.

Interestingly, one of the vocal coaches who worked with Lanza in Rome on, I think, the Caruso Favorites album, told Armando that Mario's timbre was "vaguely" reminiscent of two celebrated earlier tenors (whom the coach had heard in person): Miguel Fleta---the Spanish tenor who created the role of Calaf in Turandot---and Francesco Merli, whom we were discussing a few months back here.

Cheers
Derek
 

[Savage]

For a fleeting moment in his recording of "Love is the Sweetest thing:" , Saverio Saridis produces Lanza-like sound, specifically in the segment: " Whatever hearts may desire, whatever fate may send.  This is the tale that never will tire. This is the song without end.". Aside from this, there is no similarity in the voices.

                                                                                              David

[Michael McAdam]

Yes David. Funny,  I was also thinking about that record by Saridis (couldn't remember his exact name). I almost bought it in the 60's as it was very Lanza-like in parts. (I probably purchased a Beatles record instead :-)

Do you have a 4Shared account to upload the song to for us to hear (again)?

 

Mike

[Shawn]

Hello all (by the way, so nice to have the forum embedded!)

This was just posted on youtube by a long time opera poster who some forum members here have tangled with on the subject of Lanza (you know who you are..) :P

But I thought it was appropriate to the subject at hand as it is a very good copy of an LP released in the 60's entitled "James Melton sings Mario Lanza" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSHs8fQqkdw&feature=feedu

For those who don't know, Melton was a semi popular American operatic tenor who sang popular music and later opera and occasionally appeared in film, somewhat like Lanza though of course not enjoying nearly such notoriety or natural talent.

I have my own thoughts on this slightly odd series of recordings but I'll let others comment first.

[Savage]

Mike,

          Unfortunately, I don't have an account, just a scratchy old LP.  Saridis did an interesting rendition of Granada as well.  I may be able to obtain a Saridis CD compiled by a fan.  If I do, I'll send you a copy.   Derek is certainly on target with his reference to Domingo.  His recording of No Puede Ser gives me the feeling that for this recording he is almost possessed by the spirit of Mario. 

                                                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mXHRT4_YqQ

                                                                                                                                                      David

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Shawn: I actually commented on the oddness of that Melton "tribute" album some months back:

Melton, incidentally, knew Lanza, and around 1960 recorded a ten-song tribute album to him -- "James Melton Sings Mario Lanza" -- that, bizarrely enough, contained five songs never sung by his dedicatee (e.g. "In the Still of the Night," "Love Walked In").

If that really is Melton on the "Celeste Aida," then I'd have to say he's in very poor form here (a year or so before his death). In fact, I couldn't bear to listen to more than a minute of it!

Cheers
Derek

[Joseph Fagan]

To me, it certainly does not sound anything like Mario; indeed I don't even think it sounded like James Melton!  In fact, I would have bet it was Enzo Stuarti.It wasn't very good, IMO.

[leeann]

Odd appears as the operative word here.

There seems to be a disconnect between the voice,  lyrics, orchestration, tempi. By and large, I love the voice, but the whole listening experience (well, to be honest, I didn't make it through the "whole"--just samples of each) is simply perplexing. Quite out of synch.

Dated or not, I think Melton fared better with "Romance" as per this discussion thread!  Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann: There's a very good reason Melton sounds much better on "Romance": it's not him singing the "Celeste Aida"! Joe was right---the singer is actually Enzo Stuarti.

David Weaver pointed this out to me in an email I received today. According to him, the Coronet album James Melton Sings Mario Lanza is actually half Melton (from a 1958 release of Gershwin and Porter songs) and half Stuarti (from the LP A Tribute to Mario Lanza). Bizarre! But it certainly clarifies why five of the Melton songs I mentioned earlier had nothing to do with Lanza----Melton never recorded a tribute to Mario in the first place!

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the person who uploaded this "Celeste Aida" onto YouTube knew it was Stuarti all along. His motive for highlighting this "tribute" to Lanza was nothing more than an attempt to tarnish him by association. "Vinyl to Video," as this coward calls himself, has made it his life's work to discredit Lanza, casting doubt on his recordings and talent at every opportunity, and heaping abuse on anyone who counters his bile. He's the creature I referred to in my "Aside" here.  

Cheers

Derek

[Shawn]

Thanks a lot for that information, it explains a lot. I'm debating whether to post a comment or message to that effect.... The people that listen to the video should probably know the truth, haha.