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."
You
Mario Lanza Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If you really want to know
Ask the rose why it is blossoming
Ask the sun what makes it glow
Ask the mountain why the river flows
Down to meet the distant sea
Do you wonder why I love you so
Do you wonder why a star glows
When you look up at the sky
Why it rains and why the wind blows
Do you wonder so do I
Do you wonder why I sing to you
Of a love that must be told
It's because my heart is filled with joy
More than one poor heart hold
Ask the angels in the sky above
Why they sent you down to me
Do you wonder why I love you so
It's because it has to be
Ask the mountain why the river flows
Down to meet the distant sea
Do you wonder why I love you so
It's because it has to be
The lyrics of Mario Lanza's song "You" describe the singer's deep and unexplainable love for someone. The repeated question "Do you wonder why I love you so" suggests that the singer cannot even fully understand the reasons for their love. They compare their feelings to natural phenomena like the blossoming of a rose, the glow of the sun, and the flow of a river. The singer also wonders about other inexplicable things, like why stars shine and why the wind blows.
The lyrics suggest that the love between the singer and their beloved is part of a divine plan, as though the angels sent them to each other. The line "It's because my heart is filled with joy/more than one poor heart hold" suggests that the singer's love is overwhelming and more intense than other people's love. The repeated line "It's because it has to be" implies a sense of fate or destiny, as though the singer has no control over their feelings.
Mario Lanza's "You" is a beautiful and heartfelt song that captures the inexplicable nature of love. It suggests that love is a divine force that cannot be fully understood or explained.
Line by Line Meaning
Do you wonder why I love you so
I'm conveying my deep love for you and the reasons behind it
If you really want to know
If you truly want to understand why I love you
Ask the rose why it is blossoming
Just like the rose blooms naturally, my love for you also grows and flourishes without effort
Ask the sun what makes it glow
As the sun radiates warmth and light, so does my love for you bring warmth and light to my life
Ask the mountain why the river flows
The flow of the river is natural and inevitable, and my love for you is just as natural and non-negotiable
Down to meet the distant sea
Like the river that flows to the sea, my love for you is inexorable and leads me to you inevitably
It's because it has to be
My love for you is not a matter of choice, there's no reason or purpose other than the simple fact that I just love you
Do you wonder why a star glows
Like the star that shines in the sky, my love for you is bright and radiant
When you look up at the sky
When you look up and admire the beauty of the sky, you'll see the glow of my love for you
Why it rains and why the wind blows
Just like wind and rain are natural phenomena, my love for you is a natural and unstoppable force
Do you wonder so do I
I also wonder about the depth and power of my love for you, just as you do
Of a love that must be told
I sing to you about a love that's so intense and compelling, it demands to be expressed
It's because my heart is filled with joy
My love for you doesn't stem from any pain or sorrow, but from the sheer happiness and delight of being with you
More than one poor heart hold
The intensity and depth of my love for you is beyond comparison, it's more than what any other heart can hold
Ask the angels in the sky above
Just like the angels in the heavens watch over us, my love for you is also a guardian and protector of our relationship
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Gary Anthony Webb, Gary Anthony James Webb, Michael R Smith
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@pasionporelarte3980
This sublime voice extends beyond limits the expression of love!
@SusanKlee
If one hear a song from the great Mario Lanza, one has the feeling that it was the most beautiful ever, and then you hear this!!! Mamma mia, thanks a million!!!
@user-yr1hm9ko2q
... как же Вы дышали, дорогой мой человек?! ♥️ Красота и безупречное звучание голоса восхищают♥️♥️♥️👏👏👏🌹🇷🇺
@user-ct1ez8ll5u
Вечный и любимый голос на века!
@jerseyscampi
nice to hear something new. nice song
@ronaldo190172
Un-believable, Lanza at his best
@user-ct1ez8ll5u
Проникновеннее голоса вряд ли сыщешь!
@ShawDAMAN
Awesome!
@puccinislarondine
what a WONDERFUL recording!!!! Thank you so much. I love your Lanza, keep them coming! :):):)
@ronaldo190172
I just wish I could sing like that....