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."
Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
Mario Lanza Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Gay and tender
Love came to me
Sweet surrender
Love came to me
In bright romantic splendor
Fickle was she
Faithful never
And clever
So will it be forever, forever
Softly, as in a morning sunrise
The light of love comes stealing
Into a new born day, oh
Flaming with all the glow of sunrise
A burning kiss is sealing
The vow that all betray
For the passions that thrill love
And lift you high to heaven
Are the passions that kill love
And let you fall to hell
So ends the story
Softly, as in an evening sunset
The light that gave you glory
Will take it all away
The song Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, originally from the 1928 operetta The New Moon, tells a tale of a love that came to the singer in a charming and winsome manner, but turned out to be fickle and unfaithful. The song is composed with an upbeat tempo and a dexterous melody that shifts between tempos and keys, mimicking the emotional ups and downs of the lyrics. The opening lines of the song set an optimistic tone, as the singer reminisces about a time when love came to him, full of brightness and warmth, and he surrendered to its sweet charms. However, as the song progresses, the tone shifts into darker territory, as he realizes that the love he thought was faithful was actually fickle and deceitful. He laments that the passions that bring people together are also the ones that ultimately tear them apart, leaving them broken and alone.
The song's opening lines, "Softly, as in a morning sunrise / The light of love comes stealing / Into a new born day, oh", are imbued with a sense of hope and possibility, as the morning sunrise is often used as a metaphor for new beginnings and fresh starts. However, the singer's tone becomes more somber later in the song when he sings, "For the passions that thrill love / And lift you high to heaven / Are the passions that kill love / And let you fall to hell". Here the song seems to suggest that the same passion that brings people together can ultimately lead to their downfall. The song ends on a melancholy note, with the singer warning that the light of love that once shone so brightly will ultimately fade away, just like the evening sunset.
Line by Line Meaning
Love came to me
I experienced the feeling of love
Gay and tender
It was a happy and gentle emotion
Love came to me
Love was bestowed upon me once again
Sweet surrender
I gave in to the affectionate feeling
Love came to me
Once again, I was blessed with love
In bright romantic splendor
It was a beautiful and romantic sight to behold
Fickle was she
Love was indecisive and changeable
Faithful never
It was never loyal or steadfast
Fickle was she
Love remained changeable and undependable
And clever
It was smart and cunning
So will it be forever, forever
This is how it will always be
Softly, as in a morning sunrise
The feeling of love creeps in slowly and peacefully
The light of love comes stealing
Affection sneaks up on you like the gentle morning light
Into a new born day, oh
Into a fresh start, a new beginning
Flaming with all the glow of sunrise
The passion and intensity of love is burning bright like the sunrise
A burning kiss is sealing
A passionate kiss seals the deal
The vow that all betray
Promises of eternal love are often broken
For the passions that thrill love
The excitement and strong emotions that come with love
And lift you high to heaven
Can make you feel like you're on top of the world
Are the passions that kill love
These same emotions can also lead to the demise of love
And let you fall to hell
The subsequent heartbreak can lead to negative feelings and experiences
So ends the story
This is the conclusion of the tale of love
Softly, as in an evening sunset
Love fades away slowly and gently, like the sunset
The light that gave you glory
The love that made you feel special and important
Will take it all away
Will fade and disappear altogether
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, II, OSCAR II HAMMERSTEIN, SIGMUND ROMBERG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-cq2ex7zd6r
Марио ланцаа великолепен во всех жанрах --Богом посланный гений!!!
@arthurfirth1001
I don't think any one will ever take his place,he was the best and still is.
@kathleenhartman3718
I truly believe Mario's rendition of this song is amazing. The passion that he brings into it is fantastic and there is no way that anyone else can possibly do any version as well. Thank you so very much for posting this for us to enjoy.
@britomirabel
I started listening to Mario at the age of 10 am 54 years now. Loved every moment of his singing.
@maureen1938
Such a beautiful song sung superbly by the one and only Mario Lanza. THANKS for posting, I love it.
@ursmue1937
The great Lanza.
@user-ct1ez8ll5u
Светлый ,солнечный человек,как и его песня "Тихо,как на рассвете"
@Genevieve.Spring
Thank God, a non jazz version on here! Thank you. I'll be performing this for my opera workshop this semester. It was nice to hear this.
@ronaldgoff7499
live version from 58 albert hall but he forces high note
@isabella1954able
IL mio povero amato fratello,morto di tumore,desiderava tanto avere la traduzione di questa canzone ,per conoscere il significato delle parole,AMAVA MARIO TANTISSIMO,io son felice d'averla trovata,GRAZIE.ECCO UMBERTO ASCOLTA.