KULTURALIA: Mario Lanza, the American Caruso

By Patrice Greanville
Background material provided by Wikipedia

The brief but resplendent trajectory of the singing truck driver from Philadelphia

Mario Lanza, who crossed the artistic firmament of America and the world like a comet in the 1940s and 1950s, to die suddenly of a heart attack in 1959 at age 38 in Rome, the land of his ancestors, is credited with inspiring some of today's greatest classical singers. Carreras, Domingo and even the incomparable Pavarotti have claimed a debt to Lanza. Such high testimony might have surprised even the temperamental Lanza, not exactly given to excessive self-doubt. To this day, few people know that Lanza was born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza, to humble immigrant Italian parents on both sides of his genetic tree. Mario Lanza was the stage name he chose in honor of his mother, Maria Lanza.

Lanza who had had a tumultuous career in Hollywood, having done several blockbusters for MGM (including the iconic biopic The Great Caruso in 1951, a work praised even by the great tenor's own son, himself a professional singer) only to be dismissed later by the studio on account of artistic differences,  "returned to an active film career in 1955 in Serenade, released by Warner Bros. However the film was not as successful as his previous films, despite its strong musical content, including arias from Der Rosenkavalier, Fedora, L'arlesiana, and Otello, as well as the Act I duet from Otello with soprano Licia Albanese. Ms. Albanese said of Lanza in 1980:

I had heard all sorts of stories about Mario [Lanza]. That his voice was too small for the stage, that he couldn't learn a score, that he couldn't sustain a full opera; in fact, that he couldn't even sing a full aria, that his recordings were made by splicing together various portions of an aria. None of it is true! He had the most beautiful lirico spinto voice. It was a gorgeous, beautiful, powerful voice. I should know because I sang with so many tenors. He had everything that one needs. The voice, the temperament, perfect diction. ... Vocally he was very secure. All he needed was coaching. Everything was so easy for him. He was fantastic!^[22]

He then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome, and returned to live performing in November of that year, singing for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium. From January to April 1958, Lanza gave a concert tour of the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany.^[23] He gave a total of 22 concerts on this tour, receiving mostly positive reviews for his singing.^[24] Despite a number of cancellations, which resulted from his failing health during this period, Lanza continued to receive offers for operatic appearances, concerts, and films.^[25]

In September 1958, he made a number of operatic recordings at the Rome Opera House for the soundtrack of what would turn out to be his final film, For the First Time. It was then that he came to the attention of that opera house's artistic director, Riccardo Vitale, who promptly offered the tenor carte blanche in his choice of operatic roles. Lanza also received offers to sing in any opera of his choosing from the San Carlo in Naples.^[15] At the same time, however, his health continued to decline, with the tenor suffering from a variety of ailments, including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure. His old habits of overeating and crash dieting, coupled with binge drinking, compounded his problems.

In April 1959, Lanza reportedly fell ill, mainly with heart problems, as well as pneumonia. On September 25, 1959, he entered Rome's Valle Giulia clinic for the purpose of losing weight for an upcoming film. While in the clinic, he underwent a controversial weight loss program colloquially known as "the twilight sleep treatment", which required its patients to be kept immobile and sedated for prolonged periods. Lanza died of a heart attack at the age of 38. No autopsy was performed. He was survived by his wife and four children. Betty Lanza returned to Hollywood completely devastated. She died five months later of a drug overdose."

Source consulted: Wikipedia.

Lanza as he appeared in his maximum hit, The Great Caruso (1951).