Mario Lanza- mystery aria.....???? (see description)

[Operafiend22]

Sounds like Respighi to me. Mario sounds fantastic, whatever he's singing

[ShawDAMAN]

@Operafiend22 hmm thanks for the suggestion

[MrKonstantin06]

Listened to the record for some times.Gratitude ShawDAMAN for it !

Now reread all the changing of opinions - very interesting and useful .

Very good YT page !

[rmegna]

Definitely sounds like Giordano's style ...could be from another opera besides Andrea Chenier

[ronaldo190172]

This is on the Maria Magelli tape....

[halavey]

I heard Victor in 1990 sing in a Chicago area suburb restaurant he was singing at and he was OK, did have the Italian look but IMO did not sound like Lanza, he may try to have the sound but did not at least when I heard him and I doubt he was related. Many others have tried as I was told and have a letter from Maria Cocozza to say the least she did not like it or approve she said they try to cash in on my sons name.

[vimafeca]

I am fairly sure that this passage that Mario Lanza tests, belongs to the opera "André Chénier," I think an earlier part of the famous "Impromptu" Un di alla azzurro spazio, guardai profondo...

[corellithebest]

@vimafeca No, it is not that. The first part (recitative) of the aria goes like "Colpito qui m'avete", and this is not that. I really don't know which opera this is from.

[sarpa3]

Simply terrific, even then, so smooth, powerful and beautiful. Still I'm at a lost of his needless demise. Damn Hollywood greed!.

[bunnyking1]

There was a restrauant in chgo suburbs,called marios .Dedicated to mario Lanza. Does anyone remember it > or know what happened. It was great w/all his music & pics not to mentio great italian food.

[jackieenes]

Wonderful!

[halavey]

Yes it was Victor and i heard him sing, around 1990 in a chicago suburb  restaurant , looked a little like lanza but not that sound of course!

[halavey]

Some tenor in my home town says he is the son of lanza and Maria! Can you believe that! What goes on but yet when lanza was alive nobody said anything so I find these things hard to believe and even years ago I remember being in the house on toyopa having dinner with tony and mary and some nut called and said he was mario's brother! Tony cursed the idiot and hung up. Mary a kind gentle intelligent woman said many people want to make money on my sons name. That guy called aeound1963!

[ShawDAMAN]

Yes I heard about that guy "Victor Lanza" or something he called himself?? They basically disproved it though. Crazy, what some people will do for attention.

[halavey]

He is vocalizing thats all, not really any opera perhaps.

[ShawDAMAN]

Thanks for the info on the Pag/Cav tape and thanks for giving it to GOS, I enjoyed it. Yes as I commented on it Tucker did sound considerably more powerful there.

You may be right about this recording, but he IS singing actual lyrics here. I suppose it's possible it's just something made up, we'll probably never really know. Anyway nice little recording.

[halavey]

Shaw I taped that pag/cav not ed rosen and it's my bravo not Ed. I know also it was an afternoon show. the tucker tape was good but faded over the years a cheap ross brand tape. Corelli tape stayed good but TUCKER WAS 45% LOUDER THEN corelli then and FC even in his prime on top anyhow was not bigger then tucker, perhaps in the middle but then so was del monaco probably and i heard all 3 of them live. As for lanza the way he sang in the hollywood style sometimes was what he was told to do .

[pianist527]

Like you said I too think Lanza could have improvised the lyrics, looks like it since no one up until now could deduct which opera it comes from. Great singing at only 23 (my God!) and a lovely tiny dialogue. Many congratulations for this rare precious video.

[steakopera]

I like robust quality. At 23? What a rare talent. That is a great voice which could had been magnified to much greater level if he kept it in the opera. You cannot get your voice to sound like that even with life long lessons. It's purely natural.

[ShawDAMAN]

I agree. Yes even this young he has that robust, slightly baritonal quality about his middle and lower register. Very impressive. Thanks for listening and I take it the music is not familiar too you ;)

[steakopera]

Pew.....gee..........I am guessing it could be Puccini. I'd heard some similar tonality from Turandot, toward the end of "In questa reggia" and from Il tabarro, "Nulla silenzio. But neither of them were written for a tenor. This will be on back of my head for a while.

[Ivanhoe2]

You are a very good friend to keep finding these things and posting them for us to enjoy.. Very many thanks, it is greatly appreciated. Best Wishes..

[Glenmed]

Well, if he did just make it up, he must have let the piano player in on the secret., because that was pretty expert and knowledgeable playing ... unless it was Lanza himself.

[ShawDAMAN]

Hi, yes I was thinking the same thing. I'm quite sure it was NOT Lanza playing. I suppose it's possible the pianist just was playing something and Lanza improvised some lyrics, but again an excerpt from an opera (or something! :P) seems more likely....

[GermanOperaSinger]

No idea. It seems he is singing 'Eterna (?) calma, o quieta, io con amore si tremo, ora vieni ancora, ah si...'

Now what TENOR could sound that good at 23? I've heard several sopranos and some bassos sound great at that age...only other TENOR I can think of is di Stefano.

But could it be that he was just fooling around with a little tune and lyrics that he made up?

Wonder why he said 'don't play this for anybody else'...he sounds WAY better here than he did in his 1950s Hollywood recordings!

[ShawDAMAN]

I agree.

I suppose it's possible he just made something up...? But it certainly SOUNDS like an excerpt from an opera....

And yes he sounds better here than on many of his post-1950 recordings. This is even before he studied with Enrico Rosati.

[aaronsande]

No aficionado of rare operas, I haven't any idea what it's FROM, but that was splendid! And the talking bits are a treasure as well... Where did you find this?

[ShawDAMAN]

I have no idea either. Yes he sounds great, amazingly advanced for his age. Wish I had half the talent ;-)

I got this from an "online friend" who is a Lanza expert. He moderates on the "Mario Lanza Forum."

[aaronsande]

;P me too! How long had he been taking lessons, by age 23?

[ShawDAMAN]

I believe Lanza first started taking real lessons at 19.

(The year after this recording was made he started studying with Enrico Rosati, who also taught Beniamino Gigli and some other prominent singers.)

[aaronsande]

So 4 years of real lessons to sound like that. Phew! I feel a lot better! ;D

[ShawDAMAN]

Ha ha ;P Even at 19 he sounded pretty blasted good though. :D

[aaronsande]

Yeah I know, I know, but 4 years is a long time...if he can go from "pretty blasted good" to "REALLY blasted good"... ;D