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."
Valéncia
Mario Lanza Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hear you softly call to me
Valencia, where the orange trees forever
Send the breeze beside the sea
Valencia, in my arms I hold your charms
Beneath the blossoms high above
You love me, in Valencia long ago
In a magic dream of memory I see you again
In that old town far away beneath the skies of Spain
That city of plenty romances, so shy were your glances
And swiftly the sunshine that dances through the orange broad
Valencia, in my dreams it always seems
I hear you softly call to me
Valencia, where the orange trees forever
Send the breeze beside the sea
Valencia, in my arms I hold your charms
Beneath the blossoms high above
You love me, in Valencia long ago
We found our paradise of love
Valencia, in my arms I hold your charms
Beneath the blossoms high above
You love me, in Valencia long ago
We found our paradise of love
The song "Valencia" by Mario Lanza is a romantic ballad that speaks of the singer's longing for the city of Valencia, Spain. In his dreams, he can hear her calling to him softly, and he reminisces about the time he spent in her warm embrace. The Valencia of his dreams is a place where orange trees forever send the breeze beside the sea, where the blossoms are high above, and where he once found his paradise of love. As he fondly remembers his lost love, the singer transports himself back to a time when he and his beloved walked the streets of Valencia and basked in the Spanish sunshine.
The lyrics of "Valencia" evoke a sense of wistful nostalgia and a longing for a lost love. The song speaks to the power of memory and the way that the mind can conjure up vivid images of a time and a place, even years after they have passed. The city of Valencia is portrayed as a place of romance and enchantment, where the trees, the blossoms, and the sunshine all combine to create an atmosphere of magic and wonder. Through his songs, Mario Lanza invites us to join him on this journey of the heart to Valencia, to experience the love and beauty that can be found in this remarkable city.
Line by Line Meaning
Valencia, in my dreams it always seems
In the singer's dreams, the city of Valencia is a recurring location.
I hear you softly call to me
In the singer's dream, he hears the city of Valencia call out to him in a soft voice.
Valencia, where the orange trees forever
The singer associates Valencia with a place where orange trees grow forever.
Send the breeze beside the sea
The orange trees in Valencia send a cool breeze across the sea.
Valencia, in my arms I hold your charms
The artist feels like he is holding the charm of Valencia in his arms.
Beneath the blossoms high above
The singer and his love are standing beneath blooming trees in Valencia.
You love me, in Valencia long ago
The singer's love for Valencia started long ago, and in his mind, the city reciprocates his strong feeling.
We found our paradise of love
In Valencia, the artist and his love found what they consider to be a perfect place for loving each other.
In a magic dream of memory I see you again
The memory of Valencia is so vivid that the artist's view of it as a dream seems magical, and he can see his love in his mind's eye once more.
In that old town far away beneath the skies of Spain
Valencia is an old town that is far from where the artist is now, located beneath the skies of Spain.
That city of plenty romances, so shy were your glances
Valencia is believed to be a town full of romance opportunities, based on the singer's observation of shy glances.
And swiftly the sunshine that dances through the orange broad
The sunlight quickly dances through the broad (thick, wide) leaves of the orange trees in Valencia.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: RACHID TAHA, STEVE HILLAGE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Pepa Hueso
Maravilloso!!!Me encantaba Mario Lanza , murió muy joven
Susana Baeza
No recuerdo haber escuchado cantando Valencia a Mario. Lo hace maravilloso.
Ирина Малафеева
Потрясающее исполнение. Его голос бесподобен!!!
Terry Saxe
Very powerful vocalist....words are very clear. Nice change from todays music.
Valenciana2011
Maravillloso Mario Lanza. Preciosa canción y magnifica voz.
Mirnasol Pavia
Mario Lanza, excelente. único, una voz privilegiada, bravo
Popeye El Marino
orgullo valenciano tierra linda hermosa voz
Carlo Chiricò
Superba interpretazione del grande e indimenticabile Mario Lanza
Josly Cenit
extraordinario Mario !!!!! THE BEST TENOR !!!!!!!
Roland Lehmann
For me , I am german, born in 1980, Mario Lanza is/was one of the best singers of the hole world