~
Lanza was a big inspiration to fellow RCA Victor recording star Elvis Presley. A year after Lanza's death, Presley recorded an English translation of O Sole Mio, which was popularized by Lanza; the song, retitled, It's Now or Never, went on to be one of Presley's all time best selling songs (links below).
Mario Lanza was the first RCA Victor Red Seal artist to win a gold disc and the first artist to sell 2-1/2 million albums. 
Side 2:
B1 - Act III: E Lucevan Le Stelle (The Stars Were Brightly Shining), Composed By – Puccini*
Donizetti: L'Elisir D'Amore
B2 - Act II: Una Furtiva Lagrima (A Furtive Tear), Composed By – Donizetti*
Ponchielli: La Gioconda
B3 - Act II: Cielo E Mar! (Heaven And Ocean), Composed By – Ponchielli*
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
B4 - Act II: Vesti La Giubba (On With The Play), Composed By – Leoncavallo*
Companies, etc.
Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
Credits:
Conductor – Constantine Callinicos
Orchestra – RCA Victor Orchestra*
Sleeve Notes – Mari Yanofsky
Tenor Vocals – Mario Lanza
Notes:
Front cover:
Printed in U.S.A.
Back cover:
Printed in U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Label side A): E0-LRC-4040
Matrix / Runout (Label side B): E0-LRC-4041
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A): E0 LRC 4040 12S I B1F L
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B): E0 LRC 4041 9S I C1D L
Other (Front Cover): Form 2S-4212
Other (Back cover): Form 2S4411
Styrous® ~ Sunday, January 31, 2021
vinyl LP front cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Today, January 31, is the birthday of the great Italian spinto tenor, Mario Lanza, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Although he had a tenor voice that would rival any opera star, his career was primarily in films. For the First Time is a 1959 musical film directed by Rudolph Mate and starring Lanza, Johanna von Koczian, Kurt Kasznar and Zsa Zsa Gabor. It is the height of irony that, contrary to the title, this was Lanza's last film.
I remember the first film he starred in that I saw, The Great Caruso.
He was at the beginning of his weight problems (more on that later) in
this film but a few years later I saw his earlier film, The Toast of New Orleans, when he was at the height of his masculine attraction and combined with his voice, he was stunning.
The song Be My Love, written expressly for Lanza in 1950 by Nicholas Brodszky with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and recorded on June 27, 1950, was his first million-selling hit. The song was featured in The Toast of New Orleans in a duet with Kathryn Grayson (links to both below).
Mario Lanza was referred to by some sources as the "new Caruso" after his "instant success" in Hollywood films, while MGM hoped he would become the movie studio's "singing Clark Gable" because of his good looks and powerful voice.
For the First Time also starred Kurt Kasznar of Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, fame (link below) and Hungarian-American actress and socialite, Zsa Zsa Gabor who was in the John Huston, 1952 film, Moulin Rouge.
Mario Lanza was born as Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in 1921. He was exposed to classical singing at an early age by his Abruzzese-Molisan Italian parents. His mother Maria Lanza was from Tocco da Casauria, a town in the province of Pescara in the region of Abruzzo. His father Antonio Cocozza was from Filignano, a town in the province of Isernia in the region of Molise.
By 16, his vocal talent had become apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia for the YMCA Opera Company while still in his teens, he came to the attention of principal Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky. In 1942, Koussevitzky provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center
at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Reportedly, Koussevitzky later told him
"Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."
His voice was so powerful, so golden, so dazzling that Arturo Toscanini called it the "voice of the century". And in the opinion of Plácido Domingo, "one of the truly great natural tenor voices of the past century—a voice of beauty, passion, and power."
He was also a highly influential artist. "If I’m an opera singer," José Carreras has said, "it’s thanks to Mario Lanza."
Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper
wrote that “his smile, which was as big as his voice, was matched with
the habits of a tiger cub, impossible to housebreak.” She added that he
was the “last of the great romantic performers”. He replied, "I am the
humble keeper of a great voice, the fortunate and unfortunate guy it
passes through."
A Gouache on board portrait of Lanza by Boris Chaliapin painted in 1951 hangs in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (link below).
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
Verdi: Rigoletto
A1 - Act I: Questa O Quella (The One Is As Fair As The Other), Composed By – Verdi*
A2 - Act II: La Donna È Mobile (Woman Is Fickle), Composed By – Verdi*
A3 - Act III: Parmi Veder Le Lagrime (Art Thou Weeping?), Composed By – Verdi*
Puccini: Tosca
A4 - Act I: Recondita Armonia (Strange Harmony Of Contrasts), Composed By – Puccini*
A1 - Act I: Questa O Quella (The One Is As Fair As The Other), Composed By – Verdi*
A2 - Act II: La Donna È Mobile (Woman Is Fickle), Composed By – Verdi*
A3 - Act III: Parmi Veder Le Lagrime (Art Thou Weeping?), Composed By – Verdi*
Puccini: Tosca
A4 - Act I: Recondita Armonia (Strange Harmony Of Contrasts), Composed By – Puccini*
Side 2:
B1 - Act III: E Lucevan Le Stelle (The Stars Were Brightly Shining), Composed By – Puccini*
Donizetti: L'Elisir D'Amore
B2 - Act II: Una Furtiva Lagrima (A Furtive Tear), Composed By – Donizetti*
Ponchielli: La Gioconda
B3 - Act II: Cielo E Mar! (Heaven And Ocean), Composed By – Ponchielli*
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
B4 - Act II: Vesti La Giubba (On With The Play), Composed By – Leoncavallo*
Companies, etc.
Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
Credits:
Conductor – Constantine Callinicos
Orchestra – RCA Victor Orchestra*
Sleeve Notes – Mari Yanofsky
Tenor Vocals – Mario Lanza
Notes:
Front cover:
Printed in U.S.A.
Back cover:
Printed in U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Label side A): E0-LRC-4040
Matrix / Runout (Label side B): E0-LRC-4041
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A): E0 LRC 4040 12S I B1F L
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B): E0 LRC 4041 9S I C1D L
Other (Front Cover): Form 2S-4212
Other (Back cover): Form 2S4411
Mario Lanza – The Great Caruso
Label: RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-1127, RCA Victor Red Seal – LM 1127
Format: Vinyl, LP, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1950
Genre: Classical
Style: Vocal, Classical
Label: RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-1127, RCA Victor Red Seal – LM 1127
Format: Vinyl, LP, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1950
Genre: Classical
Style: Vocal, Classical
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Curtain Going Up! ~ Opera Goes to Hollywood: 2 Disparate Art Forms
Fanfare ~ Mario Lanza
Hollywood Walk of Fame ~ Mario Lanza
LA Times ~ Mario Lanza
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery ~ Mario Lanza
TMC ~ Mario Lanza
YouTube links:
Music ~
Sammy Cahn ~ Be My Love
Donizetti ~ Una Furtiva Lagrima (L'Elisir D'Amore)
Leoncavallo ~ Vesti La Giubba (Pagliacci)
Ponchielli ~ Cielo E Mar! (La Gioconda)
Puccini ~
Verdi ~
La donna e mobile (Rigoletto)
Documentaries ~
Jinx Falkenberg ~ The Story of Mario Lanza interview (17 mins.)
