Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Mancini's father, Quinto, was a steelworker, who made his only child begin flute lessons at the age of eight. When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After high school, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a South German concentration camp.
Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band to classical to pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name composer of easy listening music.
Mancini's range also extended to orchestral and ethnic scores (Lifeforce, The Great Mouse Detective, Sunflower, "Tom and Jerry: The Movie", Molly Maguires, The Hawaiians), and darker themes ("Experiment In Terror," "The White Dawn," "Wait Until Dark," "The Night Visitor").
Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime. Among the symphony orchestras he conducted are the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis and with Andy Williams, who had sung many of Mancini's songs.[citation needed]
Mancini had experience with acting and voice roles. In 1994 he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series Frasier, as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?" Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie Gunn, the movie version of the series Peter Gunn, the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.
Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20 Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.
Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career.
Mancini died at the age of 70 in Beverly Hills/Los Angeles, California of pancreatic cancer. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of Victor/Victoria. At the time of his death, Mancini was married to singer Virginia "Ginny" O´Connor, with whom he had three children. Ginny Mancini went on to found the Society of Singers a non profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts and holds the annual Ella Awards.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers(ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001.
Stardust
Henry Mancini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
The song "Stardust" by Henry Mancini is a beautiful and melancholic ballad that captures the heartache of lost love. The opening lines depict the emotion of the singer who is feeling the numbness of loneliness, as the purple hues of dusk steal across the surroundings that he is in. The twilight signifies the end of a phase, and the memories of the past continue to haunt him. The imagery of the stars climbing high up in the sky adds to the mood of the song as they symbolize hope, but also serves as a painful reminder of the distance that separates him from his lost love. The nostalgia of the past love lingers on in the singer's mind, and he is reminded of the moments they had shared every time he thinks of her.
The second paragraph of the song takes the listener on a journey of longing and reminiscence. The singer wonders how he spends his lonely nights wondering about the past when they were together. The melody of the song haunts his memories, and he relives the moments with his love when everything was new, and each kiss felt like an inspiration. The reference to the "memory of love's refrain" indicates that even though the love is lost, the song that connects him with the past will keep the memory alive. The closing lines of the song describe the singer's futile attempts to move on from his lost love as he dreams of a paradise where they could be together, but he knows deep down that it is all in vain, and he is left with nothing except for the stardust of their love.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
The dusk at twilight falls steadily, signifies an end to a day and a renewed transitional period
Steals across the meadows of my heart
It dominates my heart, slowly, and painfully with memories that bear witness to the passage of time
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Stars in the sky remind that the separation from the loved one is permanent
Always reminding me that we're apart
Memories bring the realization that the loved one is gone for good
You wander down the lane and far away
You went away and never returned
Leaving me a song that will not die
You handed me down a song that will live forever in my heart
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
Love has turned into memories that pain my heart every time I’m reminded of it
The music of the years gone by.
Memories are evoked by music reminding of the times gone by
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
At times, I question how I spend my time
The lonely nights
Nights spent alone thinking of you
Dreaming of a song
I dream of a song that reminds me of you
The melody
The melody comforts me but reminds me of lost love
Haunts my reverie
Memories fill my thoughts and dreams
And I am once again with you
I am reminded of the love we had before and feel closer to you
When our love was new
The memory of our love when it was fresh in our hearts
And each kiss an inspiration
Each kiss was a motivation to keep our love alive
But that was long ago
Those moments passed a long time ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
My contentment comes from the memory of the love we shared as signified by the song that you left me
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
Cherished memories that remind me of you come back to me by the garden wall when the stars are shining
You are in my arms
I feel you close to me once again
The nightingale
The sounds of nature bring to mind the memory of love
Tells his fairytale
Nature provides a beautiful background for the love we once shared
Of paradise, where roses grew
The perfect paradise where our love blossomed like roses
Though I dream in vain
Even though my dreams will never be fully realized
In my heart it will remain
I will forever keep the memory of our love in my heart
My stardust melody
The song reminds me of the love we shared; still triggers my emotions after so long
The memory of love's refrain.
The beautiful memory of the love we had, its impacts and echoes are still present in our present
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Hector Murillo
Pienso que es una pieza que va al cielo y regresa con buenas nuevas . Me recuerdo cuando mi hijo estaba hospitalizado y yo repetía esta canción y me calmaba mi inquietud y reconfortaba..el señor mancini debió tener un encuentro del tercer tipo al crear esta pieza tan maravillosa...que dios lo tenga en la gloria...
looterish
I keep coming back to Mancini for the sounds I love to hear. Nobody else can make a song sound so good. His impeccable sense of rhythm, and the fact that he always used the best players around, make his music unforgettable.
That girl!
A bittersweet haunting melody, so reminiscent of the loves we’ve all lost in our lives... family, friends and lovers!
Sooz
Our music was like salve for the tender heart... the horns, the beautiful longing strings... Mancini's piano... all combined to sooth whatever was bruised. A great big thanks to Hoagy Carmichael who wrote this.
Soundtrack of my youth 🎼 🖤
James Fox
I love this soft beautiful sound. I'm such a fan of piano music and this was the very first piece of music that I learned to play on the piano. Nothing tops this. Thanks Henry Mancini!
Walter Barcelos
A música STARDUST é uma obra prima com origem nos CÉUS DA INSPIRAÇÃO CELESTIAL. Figurará para sempre entre as grandes melodias norteamericanas embalando os melhores sonhas no coração de quem ouvem com alma e os melhores sentimentos..
boomerang905
No better way to hear Star Dust than to hear Mr.Mancini play it for me tonight.This is so lovely. So many recorded this beautiful song. Didn't know Mr.Mancini did too. I love it. Thanks.
Elena Lavrina
Tender, sweet, legendary! A marvellous music! Thank you for posting and sharing it with us!
Francisco Matarrita Bonilla
Maravillosa interpretacion de orquesta de Henry Mancini.
Maria Pérola
Está música e'tao linda como as estrelas🌟