Mantovani
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 30 March 1980) was an Italian British conductor,
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book '' British Hit Singles & Albums'' stated that he was "Britain's most successful album act before the Beatles ... the first act to sell over one million stereo albums and avesix albums simultaneously in the US Top 30 in 1959".


Biography

Mantovani was born in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, Italy, into a musical family. His father, Benedetto Paolo "Bismarck" Mantovani, was a violinist and served as the concertmaster of La Scala opera house's orchestra in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, under the baton of
Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
. The family moved to England in 1912, where young Annunzio studied at Trinity College of Music in London. After graduation, he formed his own orchestra, which played in and around
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. He married Winifred Moss (1909-1977) in 1934, having two children: Kenneth (born 12 July 1935) and Paula Irene (born 11 April 1939). By the time
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
broke out, his orchestra was one of the most popular British dance bands, both on
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio broadcasts and in live performances. He was also musical director for a large number of musicals and other plays, including
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...
's ''Pacific 1860'' (1946) and Vivian Ellis's musical setting of J. B. Fagan's ''And So to Bed'' (1951).''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' (2001) Schirmer, New York After the war, he concentrated on recording, and eventually gave up live performance altogether. He worked with arranger and composer Ronald "Ronnie" Binge, who developed the "cascading strings" effect (also known as the "Mantovani sound"). His records were regularly used for demonstration purposes in stores selling
hi-fi High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...
stereo equipment, as they were produced and arranged for stereo reproduction. He became the first person to sell a million stereophonic records. In 1952, Binge ceased to arrange for Mantovani but the distinctive sound of the orchestra remained. Mantovani recorded for Decca and London Records the US arm of the Decca Record Company, exclusively. He recorded in excess of 50 albums on that label, many of which were
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
hits. His single tracks included " The Song from Moulin Rouge", which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1953, the first instrumental track ever to do so; " Cara Mia" (with him and his orchestra backing David Whitfield) in 1954; " Around the World" in 1957; and "Main Theme from Exodus (Ari's Theme)" in 1960. In the United States, between 1955 and 1972, he released more than 40 albums, with 27 reaching the Top 40, and 11 in the Top Ten. His biggest success came with the album ''Film Encores'', which reached number one in 1957. Similarly, ''Mantovani Plays Music From 'Exodus' and Other Great Themes'' made it to the Top Ten in 1961, with over a million albums sold. Mantovani starred in his own syndicated television series, '' Mantovani'', which was produced in England and aired in the United States in 1959. Thirty-nine episodes were filmed.Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'' (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. Mantovani made his last recordings in the mid-1970s. He died at a care home in
Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
.


Music style and influences

The cascading strings technique developed by Binge became Mantovani's hallmark in such hits arranged by Binge as " Charmaine". Binge developed this technique to replicate the echo experienced in venues such as cathedrals and he achieved this goal through arranging skill alone. Author Joseph Lanza describes Mantovani's string arrangements as the most "rich and mellifluous" of the emerging light music style during the early 1950s. He stated that Mantovani was a leader in the use of new studio technologies to "create sound tapestries with innumerable strings", and that "the sustained hum of Mantovani's
reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...
erated violins produced a sonic vaporizer foreshadowing the synthesizer harmonics of space music." His style survived through an ever-changing variety of musical styles prompting '' Variety'' to call him "the biggest musical phenomenon of the twentieth century". From 1961 to 1971, David McCallum Sr was leader of Mantovani's orchestra. At this time, his son David McCallum Jr was at the height of his fame, prompting Mantovani to introduce his leader to audiences with the quip, "We can afford the father but not the son!" Mantovani is referred to by name in The Kinks song "Prince of the Punks" and Don Black and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Letter Home to England” in Tell Me on a Sunday. He also had a big influence on
Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...
,
Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...
guitarist. During his lifetime, Mantovani did not always get respect from his fellow musicians. When George Martin first suggested overdubbing
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
's recording of "Yesterday" with strings, McCartney's initial reaction, according to Martin, was that he did not want it sounding like Mantovani. Martin therefore used a more classical sound, employing a
string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...
.


Posthumous publishing

Much of his catalogue has reappeared on CD. There are also many compilations. A large number of CDs are available containing unauthorised recordings, billed as Mantovani or Mantovani Orchestra; for example the CD titled "The Mantovani Orchestra" released in 1997 contained a track from the 1980s Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "
Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
", which would have required posthumous conducting on the part of Mantovani. There have also been CDs released under the Mantovani name of recordings made by others while Mantovani was still alive. Following Mantovani's death in 1980, the Mantovani Estate continues to authorise numerous concerts worldwide and recordings using original and newly commissioned arrangements.


Discography


Albums

*''A Mantovani Program'',
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
LPB-127, 1949 *''Musical Moments'', London LPB-218, 1950 *''Waltzing with Mantovani'', London LPB-381, 1951 *''Strauss Waltzes'', London LL 685, 1953, later re-recorded in stereo as London 118, 1958 *''The Music of Victor Herbert'', London LL 746, 1953 *''An Album of Favorite Melodies'', reissued as ''An Enchanted Evening with Mantovani'', London LL 766, 1953 *''An Album of Romantic Melodies'', London LL 979, 1954 *''Plays The Music of Sigmund Romberg'', London LL 1031, 1954 *''Song Hits from Theatreland'', London LL 1219, 1955, later re-recorded in stereo as London 125, 1959 *''Plays The Music of Rudolf Friml'', London LL 1150, 1955 *''Plays The Immortal Classics'', London LL 877, 1956 *''Music from the Films'', London 112 *''Waltz Encores'', London 119 *''Film Encores'', London 124, 1957 *''Gems Forever'', London 106, 1958 *''Continental Encores'', London 147, 1959. *''Film Encores, Vol. 2'', London 164, 1959 *''The Music of Victor Herbert and Sigmund Romberg'', London 165, 1960 *''The Music of Irving Berlin and Rudolf Friml'', London 166, 1956 *''American Scene'', London 182 *''Songs to Remember'', London 193, 1960 *''Great Theme Music (Music from "Exodus")'', London 224, 1961 *''Theme from "Carnival"'', London 3250, 1961 *''Themes from Broadway'', London 242 *''American Waltzes'', London 248 *''Moon River'', London 249, 1962 *''Selections from "Stop the World – I Want to Get Off" and "Oliver"'', London 270 *''Latin Rendezvous'', London 295 *''Manhattan'', London 328, 1963 *''Folk Songs Around the World'', London 360 *''The Incomparable Mantovani'', London 392 *''The Mantovani Sound'', London 419, 1965 *''Mantovani Olé'', London 422 *''Mantovani Magic'', London 448, 1966 *''Mantovani's Golden Hits'', London 483, 1967 *''Mr. Music'', London 474, 1966 *''Mantovani/Hollywood'', London 516 *''The Mantovani Touch'', London 526, 1968 *''Mantovani/Tango'', London 532 *''Mantovani ... Memories'', London 542 *''The Mantovani Scene'', London 548, 1969 *''The World of Mantovani'', London 565, 1969 *''Mantovani Today'', London 572, 1970 *''From Monty with Love'', London 585–586, 1971 *''To Lovers Everywhere'', London PS 598, 1971 *''Annunzio Paolo Mantovani'', London XPS 610, 1972 *''An Evening with Mantovani'', London 902, 1973 *''The Greatest Gift Is Love'', London 913, 1975 *''Mantovani Magic'', K-tel, NA603 *''Mantovani's Hit Parade '', London 1966


Light classical music

*''Strauss Waltzes'', London LL 685, 1953 *''Strauss Waltzes'', London 118 1958 *''Concert Encores'', London 133 *''Operetta Memories'', London 202 *''Italia Mia'', London 232, 1961 *''Classical Encores'', London 269 *''The World's Great Love Songs'', London 280 *''Mantovani in Concert'', London 578


Christmas music

*'' Christmas Carols'' (mono), London LL 913, 1953 *''Christmas Carols'' (stereo), London PS 142, 1958 *''Christmas Greetings from Mantovani and His Orchestra'', London LL 3338 (mono) / PS 338 (stereo), 1963


Singles


Selected filmography

* '' Sing as You Swing'' (1937) * '' French Without Tears'' (1940) * '' Guitars of Love'' (1954) * '' A Heart Full of Music'' (1955)


See also

* Mononymous persons


References


External links


Official Mantovani website
* * {{Authority control 1905 births 1980 deaths 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century Italian male musicians Italian bandleaders Dance band bandleaders Easy listening musicians Entertainments National Service Association personnel Italian classical musicians Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Italian light music composers Italian male composers Italian male conductors (music) Italian music arrangers London Records artists Musicians from Venice