January 31, 2021

20,000 vinyl LPs 270: Mario Lanza ~ For the First Time

    ~       

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).   


vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
 
 
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.       
 
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.           
        
 
 
 Mario Lanza ~ For the First Time
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
 
 
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 ~ For the First Time
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
 
 
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).     


vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®




vinyl LP record label details
detail photos by Styrous®

  
Tracklist:

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*

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
 
   
         
Viewfinder links:        
        
Samuel Becket         
Sammy Cahn         
José Carreras         
Plácido Domingo         
Zsa Zsa Gabor         
Kathryn Grayson        
Hedda Hopper        
John Huston     
Kurt Kasznar        
Arturo Toscanini        

        
Net links:        
         
Fanfare ~ Mario Lanza    
Hollywood Walk of Fame ~ Mario Lanza       
IMBD ~ Mario Lanza bio        
Mario Lanza Institute ~ Biography       
Mario Lanza Tenor ~ Mario Lanza, 1921-1959 
LA Times ~ Mario Lanza         
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery ~ Mario Lanza      
       
YouTube links:        
        
Music ~      
         
Sammy Cahn ~ Be My Love         
Sammy Cahn ~ Be My Love (duet with Kathryn Grayson)        
Donizetti ~ Una Furtiva Lagrima (L'Elisir D'Amore)         
Leoncavallo ~ Vesti La Giubba (Pagliacci)  
Ponchielli ~ Cielo E Mar! (La Gioconda)    
Puccini ~    
     E Lucevan le Stelle (Tosca)          
     Recondita Armonia (Tosca)         
Verdi ~    
     La donna e mobile (Rigoletto)        
     Questa O Quella (Rigoletto)        
         
Documentaries ~       
        
Jinx Falkenberg ~ The Story of Mario Lanza interview (17 mins.)  
        
         
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Sunday, January 31, 2021       
       
















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