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Mario Lanza And Friends |
The Lanza Legacy
An Appreciation
by Jim Thompson
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"Una voce dal cielo!" After forty-eight years, the magic remains. Some still shake their heads and say in wonderment, "Ah, if he had only gone into opera full time!" Enough, please, of what might have been. He sang. And how he sang! The full coloration of that voice with its communicative qualities and the response it caused, and is still causing, were all part of a man truly given a gift by God. The critics, at the start of his career, were unanimous in praise of the young tenor and his enormous talent. They wrote of the fullness of the voice, its size and the seamless quality from bottom to top. They wrote of its sure lower register, the firm middle and the glorious high register. Critics and the general public spoke of the excitement felt when they first heard his voice. And yes, they said, given some time, he surely would take his place in the world's opera houses as primo tenore! It is unnecessary, after all these years, to delve again into why this did not happen. Old stories surface; fame came quickly and in ways no one would have imagined. And there were personal problems. But, the young singer took hold of the brass ring and rode the wild carousel to its finale. However, let us speak of the legacy. So many of today's singers such as Placido Domingo, Richard Leech, Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Jerry Hadley, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and lesser lights from the world of opera have looked at the young man from Philadelphia and said, "Thank you". Thank you for the moment in a darkened movie house when they first heard him sing or when they heard the voice on records and something in them jelled and they knew, they also would sing. That too, is part of the legacy. I write of the Lanza voice as a friend. The voice, and therefore the man, has been a part of my life since I first heard it in total wonderment in movies and on records. The year was 1949... the attraction and wonder have never left. How exciting it must have been to have heard Lanza in concert at close range! I have spoken to countless people who have had that experience and so my imagination can take flight as I listen to their descriptions. The Lanza legacy is there for all the world to hear in some 400 titles the tenor recorded for RCA Victor label, now Sony. The technicians who recorded Lanza said the voice was a hard one to record because of its color and nuances but the RCA recording engineers were able, for the most part, to capture the glory of the sound. Listen carefully to Mario Lanza on record and you will hear an honest voice, used openly and with gay abandon. Always there was a conviction, dedication and purpose of an artist. Lanza knew what he was singing about. That is not always the case with singers. The words, as he often said, were of paramount importance. How you pronounce the words tells your audience you want them to be fully involved in a song or aria. Here is a little test: try to find a dozen words in the entire Lanza recorded legacy you cannot understand. Take your pick of the languages; English, Italian, Spanish, French, Neapolitan or Latin... I doubt you will find a dozen! Take a fresh listen to Lanza in opera. Hear the voice with that magical delivery! In full voice, mezza voce, piano, in love, in anger, in despair. Listen to the young Duke, The Painter, The Poet, The Clown, The Moor. Otello with Licia Albanese! What an Otello Lanza would have been! The young Lanza studied and learned with Koussevitsky, Rosati and others. He knew instinctively what was right for the voice. Hear it, as I have, on old tapes while he was in his early 20s in live radio performances. His record company has been releasing the Lanza legacy on CDs but for the millions of fans the pace is ever so slow. I have been broadcasting for more than four decades. Over the years I have hosted many musical programs. Although a newsman, music is part of my life. Whenever I have played Lanza, listeners have called in to say how much they enjoyed hearing him sing. And of course Mario Lanza still has legions of fans the world over. Mario Lanza, the American tenor from South Philadelphia's "Little Italy" was born in 1921 and died in Rome in 1959 at the age of 38. Licia Albanese said it best, "Mario performed as though his life depended on it. So golden, so pure". Every time I hear Lanza's voice it is as though I am hearing it for the first time. It amazes me and makes me smile with joy. I think of the young singer who gave so much of himself to the music and to his audiences in concert, on records and films. And he had so much more to give... Listen to Lanza singing arias, canzones, serenades, musical comedy and operetta. Listen to the fervor, to the truthfulness, to the meaning. Listen to the tones, the color and the words... always the words. They're the soul of the music. They are the reason for the music. Few singers have ever given more meaning to words than did Mario Lanza. The Lanza legacy is simple: a man with a glorious voice who used it for as long as God gave him the right to use it. And we are so fortunate to have countless recordings to shower us with that sound, even today. Grazie, Mario! Bravo! Jim Thompson has been a broadcaster on radio and television. He is the host of "Mario Lanza and Friends" (www.mariolanzaandfriends.com), an internet program featuring Lanza and the great singers of today and yesterday in a potpourri of selections from their discographies. Among the many guests who have joined Thompson on the program are: Richard Leech, Renee Fleming, Jerry Hadley, Eileen Farrell, Roberta Peters, Licia Alabanese, Elaine Malbin, Fabio Armiliato, Elissa Lanza Bregman, Terry Robinson, Lanza biographer Derek Mannering, author Andrew Farkas, Caruso and Bjorling biographer and Anders Bjorling, Jussi's son.
Mario Lanza CDs are available on the RCA/Sony label |