Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 30 March 1980) was an Italian British

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

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 ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference work, reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the p ...

'' stated that he was "Britain's most successful album act before the Beatles ... the first act to sell over one million stereo albums and

ave is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

six 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 The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

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 Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

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 band British dance band is a genre of popular jazz and dance music that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s, often called a Golden Age of British music, prior to the Second World War. Thousands of miles awa ...

s, 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 Vivian John Herman Ellis, CBE (29 October 1903 – 19 June 1996) was an English musical comedy composer best known for the song " Spread a Little Happiness" and the Paul Temple theme " Coronation Scot". Life and work Ellis was born in Hampste ...

'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 String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

" 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 Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

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 Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

and

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

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 Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

. 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 "Cara Mia" is a popular song published in 1954 that became a UK number 1, and US number 10 hit and Gold record for English singer David Whitfield in 1954, and a number 4 hit for the American rock group Jay and the Americans in 1965. The titl ...

" (with him and his orchestra backing

David Whitfield David Whitfield (2 February 1925 – 15 January 1980) was a popular British male tenor vocalist from Hull. In November 1953 he became the first British male artist to have a number one single in the UK with " Answer Me" (Lita Roza having had a ...

) 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 Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 30 March 1980) was an Italian British conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book '' British Hit Singles & Albums'' ...

'', 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 In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

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 Light music is a less-serious form of Western classical music, which originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues today. Its heyday was in the mid‑20th century. The style is through-composed, usually shorter orchestral pieces and ...

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 Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of ambient music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from new-age music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music ...

." His style survived through an ever-changing variety of musical styles prompting ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' 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 David Keith McCallum (19 September 1933 – 25 September 2023) was a Scottish actor and musician, based in the United States. He gained wide recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series '' The Man fr ...

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 The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

song "Prince of the Punks" and Don Black and

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

’s “Letter Home to England” in

Tell Me on a Sunday ''Tell Me on a Sunday'' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black. A one-woman show, it has been performed by a number of female singers/actors, most notably Marti Webb and Bernadette Peters. A one-act song cycle, ...

. 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 Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

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

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 Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

'' (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 ''French Without Tears'' is a comic play written by a 25-year-old Terence Rattigan in 1936. Setting It takes place in a cram school for adults needing to acquire French for business reasons. Scattered throughout are Franglais phrases and sc ...

'' (1940) * ''

Guitars of Love ''Guitars of Love'' () is a 1954 West German musical film directed by Werner Jacobs and starring Vico Torriani, Elma Karlowa and Harald Juhnke.MacKenzie p.176 It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. The film's sets were designed by the art ...

'' (1954) * ''

A Heart Full of Music ''A Heart Full of Music'' (German: ''Ein Herz voll Musik'') is a 1955 West German musical film, musical romantic comedy film directed by Robert A. Stemmle and starring Vico Torriani, Ina Halley and Ruth Stephan.Silberman & Wrage p.147 It was shot ...

'' (1955)

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