THE VOICE DETECTIVE

STARTEN UNSERER SPRACHDETEKTIV-WEBSITE ZUM 103. GEBURTSTAG VON MARIO LANZA

An diesem Tag, dem 103. Geburtstag des großen italienisch-amerikanischen Tenors Mario Lanza, möchte der Voice Detective ihm Tribut zollen. Er wurde von Arturo Toscanini als „die größte Stimme des 20. Jahrhunderts“1 bezeichnet und seine herrliche Stimme beeinflusste jeden Tenor, der danach folgte.

Da er selbst ein angehender Tenor ist, gedenkt The Voice Detective alias Gyaan Lyon diesem großartigen Künstler und treibt mit der Einführung seiner Website voicedetective.com demütig seine eigene Entdeckungsreise in den Bereichen Gesang und Darbietung ins World Wide Web voran. Seine Mission ist es, denjenigen, die Gesang und Gesangskunst lieben, Informationen und Unterhaltung über seine persönliche Gesangsreise der Stimmforschung und alles, was mit Gesang, Oper und Bühne zu tun hat, zu bieten.

Lass uns gehen. Weiter mit der Darbietung!
Und ich bin. Unverschämt!

In an age of great tenors, Mario Lanza was a meteor among the stars; burning more brightly than them all. The legend of Mario Lanza has taken over from the reality of the human being and the great singer that he was. Even his birth has been shrouded in myth. According to one of his earliest biographers Mario claimed the studios wanted his year of birth to be 1921 because it was the year of Caruso’s death. The fact is though, that Mario Lanza came into this world on the 31st January 1921 with the name of Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in  South Philadelphia.[1] The name Mario Lanza was in honour of his mother, whose maiden name was Maria Lanza. Maria was from the Abruzzo region and his father Tony Cocozza from Filignano and so Freddy, as he was then known, was a first generation American.

 

He had the ambition to be an opera singer from an early age, to ‘be the king of the singers, like Caruso’, according to Al de Palma who allowed young Freddy to listen to records at the back of his general goods shop.[2] The future star Mario Lanza listened for hours on end, day in day out, to all the recording artists he could. This penchant for doing everything in the extreme was to characterise Mario’s trajectory in life. He would be renowned for his gargantuan appetite in all things, which included immense generosity and an abiding love of simple pleasures.

 

His vocal talent was encouraged by his parents and he had early lessons which led to an audition before Dr. Serge Koussevitsky, a renowned Philadelphia Maecenas who in 1942 invited Mario to take part in a summer school run by his musical foundation at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Among the other alumni of this school, would be one Leonard Bernstein.[3] The draft during the second world war interrupted this promising start, but during the war he was assigned to an entertainment troupe with some future influential friends and budding stars of Hollywood. It was whilst performing in the touring show Winged Victory he came to the attention of Hollywood and met his wife, Betty.[4] Mario had been signed by Columbia before being drafted[5] and when he signed with RCA Victor after being discharged from war service his friend, the future great baritone George London, helped Mario spend his $3000 bonus.[6] In April 1945 Mario and Betty married and lived in New York. Mario was having singing lessons from Polly Robinson and a fellow would-be singer, Sam Weiler heard Lanza and said, ‘What’s the sense in taking lessons? I couldn’t sing like that in a million years’ He later said, ‘I had just heard the greatest voice in the world.’.[7] Weiler decided then and there that he would never be a great singer and immediately proposed to further Mario’s career  through his contacts and financial support. An agreement was made, Weiler would fund Mario and his lifestyle and in return he would receive 10% of all Mario’s future gross earnings. Weiler also arranged for Mario to be taught by the much venerated Enrico Rosati, who had trained among others, Gigli. Upon hearing Lanza for the first time, Rosati exclaimed, ‘I have waited thirty-four years for you.’

 

The rest of the world did not have to wait nearly as long. Mario and George London, together with  soprano Frances Yeend formed a travelling trio called the Bel Canto Singers.[8] With Rosati’s watchful eye or ears, and this performing apprenticeship, Mario came to the serious attention of Hollywood, on the 28 August 1947, in the person of none other than Louis B. Mayer at the Hollywood Bowl.  And the rest they say ‘is history’.[9] He was signed and began immediately working with Joe Pasternak , with whom Mario was to have a successful but tempestuous working relationship.

 

Though Mario was only to make a handful of films, each one was carefully tailored to his great vocal gifts. His greatest role would be without doubt Enrico Caruso himself, in the film The Great Caruso. When studio bosses were thinking of not casting Lanza in the title role, with characteristic energy, simplicity and directness, Mario telephoned Mayer and said, ‘I want to play Caruso more than anything in the world.’ Mario later told Callinicos that “I’ll be Caruso every minute of the day.’ [10] And to quote further from Callinicos, ‘The obsession to emulate Caruso, the fantasy of being Caruso, had come to fruition. Now it remained for him to play the part and sing the role, almost as though his destiny were being fulfilled. This was one of the rare occurrences in the entertainment field – or any field, for that matter – where a man actually was given the equipment by God and nature to impersonate an idol. In a sense, and tragically so at the age of thirty, Mario was approaching the climax of his professional…life.’ [11]

 

Mario seemed to know he was not long for this world. and on occasion expressed such.[12] In all he made a mere seven feature films in which he both acted and sang. He did indeed sing in The Student Prince, his final Hollywood film which had ended with his being replaced on screen. Mario toured and sang extensively throughout the United States in support of his film launches. Despite his physical decline, attributed to over-indulgence followed by binge-dieting, all reports right to the very end state that his voice never declined or failed him. It remained vibrant, beautiful and enormous right to the very end. He died in Rome in 7 October 1959. He was just thirty-eight years old.

 
 

[1] CALLINICOS. CONSTANTINE., THE MARIO LANZA STORY, (1960) NO PLACE OR ORIGINAL PUBLISHER GIVEN AMAZON REPRINT 2024. P.29

[2] IBID. P.35

[3] IBID. PP.38-41

[4] IBID.PP. 52-53

[5] IBID.P.41

[6] IBID. P.55

[7] IBID. P59

[8] IBID.65-71

[9] IBID 75-77

[10] IBID.P.109

[11] IBID.P.110

[12] IBID.P110

STARTEN UNSERER SPRACHDETEKTIV-WEBSITE ZUM 103. GEBURTSTAG VON MARIO LANZA

An diesem Tag, dem 103. Geburtstag des großen italienisch-amerikanischen Tenors Mario Lanza, möchte der Voice Detective ihm Tribut zollen. Er wurde von Arturo Toscanini als „die größte Stimme des 20. Jahrhunderts“1 bezeichnet und seine herrliche Stimme beeinflusste jeden Tenor, der danach folgte.

Da er selbst ein angehender Tenor ist, gedenkt The Voice Detective alias Gyaan Lyon diesem großartigen Künstler und treibt mit der Einführung seiner Website voicedetective.com demütig seine eigene Entdeckungsreise in den Bereichen Gesang und Darbietung ins World Wide Web voran. Seine Mission ist es, denjenigen, die Gesang und Gesangskunst lieben, Informationen und Unterhaltung über seine persönliche Gesangsreise der Stimmforschung und alles, was mit Gesang, Oper und Bühne zu tun hat, zu bieten.

Lass uns gehen. Weiter mit der Darbietung!
Und ich bin. Unverschämt!

In an age of great tenors, Mario Lanza was a meteor among the stars; burning more brightly than them all. The legend of Mario Lanza has taken over from the reality of the human being and the great singer that he was. Even his birth has been shrouded in myth. According to one of his earliest biographers Mario claimed the studios wanted his year of birth to be 1921 because it was the year of Caruso’s death. The fact is though, that Mario Lanza came into this world on the 31st January 1921 with the name of Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in  South Philadelphia.[1] The name Mario Lanza was in honour of his mother, whose maiden name was Maria Lanza. Maria was from the Abruzzo region and his father Tony Cocozza from Filignano and so Freddy, as he was then known, was a first generation American.

 

He had the ambition to be an opera singer from an early age, to ‘be the king of the singers, like Caruso’, according to Al de Palma who allowed young Freddy to listen to records at the back of his general goods shop.[2] The future star Mario Lanza listened for hours on end, day in day out, to all the recording artists he could. This penchant for doing everything in the extreme was to characterise Mario’s trajectory in life. He would be renowned for his gargantuan appetite in all things, which included immense generosity and an abiding love of simple pleasures.

 

His vocal talent was encouraged by his parents and he had early lessons which led to an audition before Dr. Serge Koussevitsky, a renowned Philadelphia Maecenas who in 1942 invited Mario to take part in a summer school run by his musical foundation at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Among the other alumni of this school, would be one Leonard Bernstein.[3] The draft during the second world war interrupted this promising start, but during the war he was assigned to an entertainment troupe with some future influential friends and budding stars of Hollywood. It was whilst performing in the touring show Winged Victory he came to the attention of Hollywood and met his wife, Betty.[4] Mario had been signed by Columbia before being drafted[5] and when he signed with RCA Victor after being discharged from war service his friend, the future great baritone George London, helped Mario spend his $3000 bonus.[6] In April 1945 Mario and Betty married and lived in New York. Mario was having singing lessons from Polly Robinson and a fellow would-be singer, Sam Weiler heard Lanza and said, ‘What’s the sense in taking lessons? I couldn’t sing like that in a million years’ He later said, ‘I had just heard the greatest voice in the world.’.[7] Weiler decided then and there that he would never be a great singer and immediately proposed to further Mario’s career  through his contacts and financial support. An agreement was made, Weiler would fund Mario and his lifestyle and in return he would receive 10% of all Mario’s future gross earnings. Weiler also arranged for Mario to be taught by the much venerated Enrico Rosati, who had trained among others, Gigli. Upon hearing Lanza for the first time, Rosati exclaimed, ‘I have waited thirty-four years for you.’

 

The rest of the world did not have to wait nearly as long. Mario and George London, together with  soprano Frances Yeend formed a travelling trio called the Bel Canto Singers.[8] With Rosati’s watchful eye or ears, and this performing apprenticeship, Mario came to the serious attention of Hollywood, on the 28 August 1947, in the person of none other than Louis B. Mayer at the Hollywood Bowl.  And the rest they say ‘is history’.[9] He was signed and began immediately working with Joe Pasternak , with whom Mario was to have a successful but tempestuous working relationship.

 

Though Mario was only to make a handful of films, each one was carefully tailored to his great vocal gifts. His greatest role would be without doubt Enrico Caruso himself, in the film The Great Caruso. When studio bosses were thinking of not casting Lanza in the title role, with characteristic energy, simplicity and directness, Mario telephoned Mayer and said, ‘I want to play Caruso more than anything in the world.’ Mario later told Callinicos that “I’ll be Caruso every minute of the day.’ [10] And to quote further from Callinicos, ‘The obsession to emulate Caruso, the fantasy of being Caruso, had come to fruition. Now it remained for him to play the part and sing the role, almost as though his destiny were being fulfilled. This was one of the rare occurrences in the entertainment field – or any field, for that matter – where a man actually was given the equipment by God and nature to impersonate an idol. In a sense, and tragically so at the age of thirty, Mario was approaching the climax of his professional…life.’ [11]

 

Mario seemed to know he was not long for this world. and on occasion expressed such.[12] In all he made a mere seven feature films in which he both acted and sang. He did indeed sing in The Student Prince, his final Hollywood film which had ended with his being replaced on screen. Mario toured and sang extensively throughout the United States in support of his film launches. Despite his physical decline, attributed to over-indulgence followed by binge-dieting, all reports right to the very end state that his voice never declined or failed him. It remained vibrant, beautiful and enormous right to the very end. He died in Rome in 7 October 1959. He was just thirty-eight years old.

 
 

[1] CALLINICOS. CONSTANTINE., THE MARIO LANZA STORY, (1960) NO PLACE OR ORIGINAL PUBLISHER GIVEN AMAZON REPRINT 2024. P.29

[2] IBID. P.35

[3] IBID. PP.38-41

[4] IBID.PP. 52-53

[5] IBID.P.41

[6] IBID. P.55

[7] IBID. P59

[8] IBID.65-71

[9] IBID 75-77

[10] IBID.P.109

[11] IBID.P.110

[12] IBID.P110

ROSIE AYLING-ELLIS: DIE ABSOLUTE GEWINNERIN VERLÄSST EASTENDERS NACH ZWEI JAHREN

Rose Ayling-Ellis

Wie die BBC bekannt gab, verlässt die Schauspielerin Rose Ayling-Ellis EastEnders nach zwei Jahren.

Ayling-Ellis spielt seit 2020 Frankie Lewis in der BBC One-Soap und war der erste gehörlose Schauspieler, der eine reguläre Figur spielte.

Letztes Jahr war sie die erste gehörlose Kandidatin bei Strictly Come Dancing und gewann schließlich die Serie.

Ayling Ellis sagte, sie würde ihre Zeit bei EastEnders „schätzen“, fügte jedoch hinzu: „Jetzt scheint der richtige Zeitpunkt zu sein, weiterzugehen.“

Sie werde diesen Herbst beim Verlassen des Albert Square zu sehen sein, ihre letzten Szenen habe sie bereits gedreht, berichtete die BBC.

Flughäfen sollen behinderte Passagiere nicht länger im Stich lassen

Victoria Brignell

Flughäfen müssten aufhören, behinderte Passagiere im Stich zu lassen, sonst könnten ihnen rechtliche Schritte drohen, warnte die britische Regulierungsbehörde.

Die Zivilluftfahrtbehörde (CAA) erklärte, man verstehe die Herausforderungen, denen sich die Branche bei der Personalbeschaffung gegenübersehe, doch einige der jüngsten Vorfälle seien „inakzeptabel“.

In einigen Fällen hätten behinderte Passagiere stundenlang im Flugzeug warten müssen, bis ihnen beim Aussteigen geholfen worden sei, hieß es.

Die Branche hatte in den vergangenen Monaten mit Personalmangel zu kämpfen.

Fluggesellschaften und Flughäfen haben während der Pandemie Tausende von Arbeitsplätzen abgebaut, als die Covid-Beschränkungen den internationalen Reiseverkehr praktisch zum Erliegen brachten.

„Ich bin der Traum eines Fernsehproduzenten“ – Rosie Jones über die Schwierigkeiten, das Posergirl für die Behindertenkomödie zu sein

Rosie Jones

Ich schreibe diesen Artikel in einem schönen Café in Poole, Dorset, und ein netter Mann hat mich gerade um ein Foto mit mir gebeten. Er ist ein Fan, behauptet er. Natürlich sage ich ja, aber als er über sein Telefon wischt, zeigt es an, dass das letzte, was er gegoogelt hat, „behinderter Komiker“ war. Er ist beschämt. Ich finde das natürlich lustig. Es ist klar, dass er mich vom anderen Ende des Cafés aus gesehen hat, dachte: „Oh, ich erkenne ihr Gesicht wieder“ und nach den beiden Begriffen suchte, die er über mich kannte: „behindert“ und „Komiker“. Es stört mich nicht, dass er googeln musste, wer ich bin, oder dass er mich auf meine Fähigkeiten und meinen Job reduziert hat, aber es stört mich, dass ich laut der weltweit führenden Suchmaschine der einzige behinderte Komiker bin.

Das stimmt nicht. Im Vereinigten Königreich gibt es derzeit so viele großartige Komiker mit Behinderungen und Neurodiversität: Adam Hills, Chris McCausland, Lost Voice Guy, Tim Renkow, Ashley Storrie und Fern Brady, um nur einige zu nennen. Aber es scheint, dass ich in letzter Zeit so etwas wie ein Aushängeschild für Behinderung geworden bin. Ich denke, dafür gibt es mehrere Gründe.

Erstens habe ich keine Angst, offen und ehrlich über meine Behinderung zu sprechen und wie stolz ich bin, ein Mitglied der Behindertengemeinschaft zu sein. Und ich nutze meine Plattform regelmäßig, um Menschen auf systemischen Ableismus in der Gesellschaft aufmerksam zu machen – oder in letzter Zeit auf meinen persönlichen, verinnerlichten Ableismus, wenn es um die Verwendung von Mobilitätshilfen geht.

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The Voice Detective