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."
Summertime in Heidelberg
Mario Lanza Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's beauty everywhere,
All the tree are dressed in their Sunday best
And the brass band plays in the square.
Everyday is like a holiday
Strolling underneath the sun,
All the Fraulein wear flowers in their hair
The fragrant bleeze,
The linden trees,
The promenade where lovers stray,
But have a care
Or someone there
May steal your heart away.
Strange things happen on a summer night
When the bells begin to chime.
It could happen to
Someone just like you
Down in Heidelberg in summertime.
The Mario Lanza song "Summertime in Heidelberg" paints a picturesque scene of beauty and merriment during the summer months in the German city of Heidelberg. The lyrics describe the trees dressed in their Sunday best and the brass band playing in the square, creating a festive atmosphere. The Fraulein, or young women, wear flowers in their hair with a smile for everyone as they stroll under the sun, turning every day into a holiday. The fragrance of the breeze and the linden trees add to the charm of the city promenade where lovers stray, but warning is given to have a care or someone might steal your heart away.
Furthermore, the lyrics suggest that strange things happen on a summer night when the bells begin to chime. It implies that magical moments of love and romance can occur at any time, unexpectedly, and to anyone. Love has the power to spark and ignite in summertime Heidelberg, and the melody of the bells adds to the nostalgia and romanticism of the moment.
This song celebrates the beauty and charm of Heidelberg in summertime, as well as capturing the youthful innocence and the possibility of adventure and love during this time. It also highlights the message of carpe diem, seizing the day, and enjoying the moments for they are ephemeral.
Line by Line Meaning
When it's summertime in Heidelberg,
At the onset of summer in Heidelberg,
There's beauty everywhere,
Everywhere you see, there's nothing but beauty,
All the tree are dressed in their Sunday best
The trees are all vividly adorned,
And the brass band plays in the square.
The square is filled with the sound of brass music.
Everyday is like a holiday
Every day feels like a festive occasion,
Strolling underneath the sun,
Walking under the scorching rays of the sun,
All the Fraulein wear flowers in their hair
The ladies wear flowers in their hairs,
With a smile to spare for everyone.
Everyone gets a generous smile from them.
The fragrant bleeze,
The pleasant breeze that carries wonderful smells,
The linden trees,
The lime trees,
The promenade where lovers stray,
The path where lovers walk,
But have a care
You must be mindful,
Or someone there
It's possible that someone there
May steal your heart away.
Will take away your affections.
Strange things happen on a summer night
Unexplained phenomena occur on a summer night,
When the bells begin to chime.
When the bells start to ring.
It could happen to
It's possible that it could happen to
Someone just like you
Someone similar to you
Down in Heidelberg in summertime.
In Heidelberg, during summer.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: STEVE EARLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Chris Mellor
Edmund Purdom the greatest mime artist ever. Even the breath intake before every new phrase is pinpoint...Incredible.
Vincent Di Placido
Purdom does do a good job, I especially love his close-up work on I’ll Walk with God on the lines, “I’ll walk with God, I’ll take his hand, I’ll talk with God, he’ll understand. I’ll pray to him, each day to him and he’ll hear the words that I say....”
Purdom said it was an amazing voice to act to, he had Mario playing back at full volume on the set!
Dawn Johnson
He is fabulous. A miracle
manny
I love Lanza's well-pedaled voice. Never tiring to hear.
elene Wentzel
🌹🌟It’s breathtaking beautiful and gives me goosebumps! They sung love songs so beautifully together!🌟🌹👏
Palmarola2012
It is truly amazing that a singer who passed away so long ago still captures the imagination of millions. It is a testimony to Mario Lanza's fantastic talent. It was a splendid but short lived career filled with passion and success and some difficult times. At the end, Lanza was back on his way up and was among the most popular entertainers of his era. I recommend reading A KID FROM PHILADELPHIA, MARIO LANZA, THE VOICE OF THE POETS, and to listen to him as you read the beautiful essays that are a homage to a star who is still with us and will always be with us.
1BeeJenks
Beautifully sung by Mario Lanza and Ann Blyth. I am old enough to have remembered the film and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Alex Chui
Me too, I was a teenage boy when I took this film, amazing in deed!
Rodrigo Sampaio
Bela canção.
Barbara Karamon
Tears came to my eyes when The Student Prince movie was on AMC the other night. I was in my late teens, and fell in love with the movie. So, I had to pull up the soundtrack and once again listen to this outstanding work by Sigmund Romberg. Awesome everytime I hear it