Mario Lanza: Tenor in Exile (Amadeus) - Hardcover

Bessette, Roland L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574670441 ISBN 13: 9781574670448

Publisher: Amadeus, 2003

Synopsis

More than 40 years after his premature death, the mystique of Mario Lanza continues. He remains a legendary figure, a crossover icon embraced and remembered by an entire generation for bridging the gap between popular and classical music, the acknowledged inspiration of today's Three Tenors. Bessette tells his story with a novelist's eye for the inherent tragedy of Lanza's brief life, the contradictory facets of his personality, his passion for life, and his self-destructiveness. HARDCOVER.

About this title

About the Author

Roland L. Bessette, an attorney specializing in labor and medical malpractice defense, has a degree in journalism from Wayne State University and a juris doctorate from Detroit College of Law. He lives in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, with his wife, Phyllis, a physician.

Reviews

Born in 1921 to an idle war veteran and the disillusioned daughter of an Italian shopkeeper, Alfred Arnold Cocozza seemed an unlikely candidate for greatness. But in his family's crowded South Philadelphia apartment, the influence of his father's opera records combined with his own exceptional voice ("He was fond of simply vaulting, from silence, to a ringing and sustained high C") to turn the unruly boy into the most popular tenor of his day?Mario Lanza. After a few years of vocal training, a miserable stint as a military entertainer during WWII and some success as a concert and radio singer, Lanza discovered his best medium in Hollywood. In film, he found an escape from his paralyzing stage fright and a vehicle for his dark good looks. At the apex of his career, he played the legendary tenor of the century in The Great Caruso and introduced millions to the beauty of opera (Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti all credit Lanza as an early influence). But his career soon began to spiral downward as his indolence (he never bothered to learn sight-reading, limiting his repertoire) and shocking crudeness conspired with more prosaic Hollywood vices (notably womanizing, alcoholism and eating disorders) to alienate him from the Metropolitan Opera and MGM. Bessette, a lawyer and Lanza fan, does an admirable job of unearthing a great store of anecdotes and opinions about the controversial singer. 50 b&w photos.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The story of tenor Mario Lanza is painfully compelling. Born in Philadelphia, the only child of Italian immigrant parents, he compared himself to Caruso from the start. Success in films came early, and he portrayed his idol in The Great Caruso in 1951, the highlight of his career. But Lanza was undisciplined and never developed musical skills to equal his great talent. His charisma, boyish enthusiasm, and warmth served him well in his youth but were not enough to compensate for the cancellations, drunken rages, malicious pranks, and paranoia that ended his career in Hollywood. He spoke always of an operatic career but only sang two complete performances on stage. He died in Rome in 1959 at the age of 38. Attorney Bessette has written a thorough and entertaining story, marred by digressions and occasionally amateurish phrases (e.g., "a once-prodigal talent whose tomorrows were growing short in the early winter of life"). Earlier Lanza biographies are out of print, however, and this one will be useful for larger collections.AKate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse,
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Amadeus
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1574670441
• ISBN 13: 9781574670448
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 308