Operatic career:
Born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was exposed to opera and singing at a young age, and by the age of 16 his vocal talent became apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia, he later came to the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Koussevitzky would later tell Lanza that, "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."
His operatic debut, as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, was at Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after just six weeks of study with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. It was here that Cocozza adopted his stage name from his mother Maria's maiden name of Lanza. His performances at Tanglewood won him critical acclaim, with Noel Straus of The New York Times hailing the 21-year-old tenor as having "few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth, and power."
His operatic career was interrupted by World War II, when he was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He appeared on the wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory while in the Air Corps.
He resumed his singing career in October 1945 on the CBS radio program Great Moments in Music, where he made six appearances singing various operatic selections. He later studied under Enrico Rosati for fifteen months, then embarked on an 86-concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with George London and Frances Yeend. In April 1948, he sang Pinkerton in the New Orleans Opera's Madama Butterfly. A concert at the Hollywood Bowl brought Lanza to the attention of MGM's Louis B. Mayer, who signed Lanza to a seven-year film contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. This would prove to be a turning point in the young singer's career.
Film career:
MGM's contract with Lanza required him to commit to the studio for six months, and at first Lanza was able to combine his film career with his operatic one, singing two acclaimed performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association in April 1948. He also continued to perform in concert, both in solo appearances and as part of the Bel Canto Trio with George London and Frances Yeend. In May 1949, he made his first commercial recordings with RCA Victor. However, his first two films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were very successful, as was his recording career, and Lanza's fame increased dramatically.
In 1951, Lanza portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which proved to be an astonishing success. At the same time, his popularity exposed Lanza to intense criticism by music critics, including those who had praised his work years earlier.
In 1954, Lanza was dismissed by MGM after he had pre-recorded the songs for The Student Prince. The film was subsequently made with actor Edmund Purdom miming to Lanza's vocals. During this period Lanza came very close to bankruptcy as a result of poor investment decisions made by his former manager. Owing about $250,000 in back taxes to the IRS, Lanza withdrew from the public eye for a time.
Mario Lanza at home.He returned to an active film career in 1956 in Serenade; despite its strong musical content, it was not as successful as his previous films. Lanza then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome and returned to live performing in a series of acclaimed concerts throughout Britain, Ireland and the European Continent. In early 1958, he auditioned for the management of La Scala in Milan, and was immediately offered a minimum two-year contract to sing at that theatre. The opera initially discussed was Puccini's Tosca. Later that year, Lanza also agreed to open the 1960/61 season at the Rome Opera as Canio in Pagliacci. At the same time, however, his health began to decline, with the tenor suffering from a variety of ailments, including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure. The following year, in April 1959, Lanza suffered a minor heart attack, followed by double pneumonia in August. He died in Rome in October of that year at the age of 38 from a pulmonary embolism. His widow moved back to Hollywood with their four children and died of a drug overdose five months later; the younger of their two sons died of a heart attack at the age of 37. When Lanza died rumors spread that the notorious mob boss Lucky Luciano (Salvatore Luciano) had had him killed after he refused to perform for him but those rumors quickly died down because they simply were not true. Soprano Maria Callas would later say of him, "My biggest regret is not to have had the opportunity to sing with the greatest tenor voice I've ever heard."
Lanza's short career covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. He was the first artist for RCA Victor Red Seal to receive a gold disc. He was also the first artist to sell two and half million albums. A highly influential artist, Lanza has been credited with inspiring the careers of successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and Jose Carreras, as well as those of singers with seemingly different backgrounds, and influences, his RCA Victor label-mate Elvis Presley being the most notable example. In 1994, tenor José Carreras paid tribute to Lanza in a worldwide concert tour, saying of him, "If I'm an opera singer, it's thanks to Mario Lanza."
September Song
Mario Lanza Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
I'd let the old Earth make a couple of whirls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
And you ain't got time for waiting game
When days dwindle down to a precious few
September November,
And these few golden days I'd share with you
Those golden days I share with you
When you meet with the young girls early in the Spring
You court them in song and rhyme
They answer with words and a clover ring
But if you could examine the goods they bring
They have little to offer but the songs they sing
And the plentiful waste of time of day
A plentiful waste of time
Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you
The song "September Song" by Mario Lanza portrays the story of a young man who used to court women in his younger days. He had his own strategy of waiting for the maid to come around if she refused him. He would try to win her heart by presenting her with tears in lieu of pearls, and eventually, they came his way. Although it took some time for him to find the right woman, he felt that it was worth the wait.
The lyrics then transition into a reflection on the ephemeral nature of life. The days get shorter as we reach September, and the autumn weather changes the leaves to flame. This time of year is a reminder that life is fleeting, and we should cherish every moment we have. The singer shares that they want to spend the last few precious days of the year with their beloved.
Overall, the song is a tribute to the beauty of love and the importance of cherishing each moment in life, especially as time goes on.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was a young man courting the girls
When I was a young man pursuing romantic relationships
I played me a waiting game
I would patiently wait for the girl's response to my advances
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
If a girl rejected me with an attitude
I'd let the old Earth make a couple of whirls
I'd wait for some time to pass
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
While I would try to win her over with my emotions rather than material gifts
And as time came around she came my way
Eventually, she reciprocated my feelings
As time came around, she came
Eventually, she agreed to be with me
Oh, it's a long long while from May to December
The time between youth and old age is long
But the days grow short when you reach September
But as one ages, time seems to pass more quickly
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
As the weather shifts to autumn and the leaves change color
And you ain't got time for waiting game
And there's no time left for playing games in love
When days dwindle down to a precious few
When there are only a few days left in life
September November,
The months with the few remaining days
And these few golden days I'd share with you
And I would spend those days with you to make them special
Those golden days I share with you
Those moments we spend together in our remaining days
When you meet with the young girls early in the Spring
When you first meet a girl in the spring of life
You court them in song and rhyme
You try to impress them with romantic gestures
They answer with words and a clover ring
They respond with sweet words and small gestures
But if you could examine the goods they bring
But if you looked closer at what they offer
They have little to offer but the songs they sing
They may not have much to give besides words and gestures
And the plentiful waste of time of day
And a lot of time spent on meaningless activities
A plentiful waste of time
A lot of time spent on things with little value
Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
The time between youth and old age is long
But the days grow short when you reach September
But as one ages, time seems to pass more quickly
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
As the weather shifts to autumn and the leaves change color
One hasn't got time for the waiting game
There's no time left for playing games in love
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
Oh, there are only a few days left in life
September, November
The months with the few remaining days
And these few precious days I'll spend with you
And I will spend those days with you to make them special
These precious days I'll spend with you
These moments we spend together in our remaining days
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Norma Hobson
Thanks for this rendition of Mario Lanza's "September Song"-it is so great-I had never heard this by Mario before-great!
Palmarola2012
Thank you for posting this marvelous performance. It shows Lanza's fantastic talent. A great book explains so much about him. It is the bestseller, “A KID FROM PHILADELPHIA, MARIO LANZA, THE VOICE OF THE POETS.” It is a series of essays that exhibit his life and ability to be the greatest of tenor and the greatest of performers.
Mario Lanza had one of the most thrilling voices of all time. He was a tenor who was able to cross over from opera to popular music as no one else could. It is no wonder that he was the idol of Pavarotti and Domingo and so many singers today. The book, “A KID FROM PHILADELPHIA, MARIO LANZA, THE VOICE OF THE POETS.” captures his passion and is a lovely homage to him from a fan for his fans.
Ирина Малафеева
Что бы и о чём бы не пел Марио Ланца .. всё становится бестеллером!!!