Mario Lanza - And This is My Beloved video free download

Photos of Mario Lanza, and paintings by master artists, combine to form a gift for the eye as well as the ear.

Mario Lanza sings "And This is My Beloved" so very beautifully, what an incredible voice he had. Long may his legacy live through his movies, his many recordings, videos on YouTube and through other media outlets. His voice may never be equaled. Hedda Hopper, well-known gossip columnist, believed that "There had never been anyone like Mario, and I doubt whether we shall ever see his like again."

This song is from the musical "Kismet".

"Kismet is a musical with lyrics and musical adaptation (as well as some original music) by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Alexander Borodin, and a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on Kismet, the 1911 play by Edward Knoblock". The quote above is from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kismet_(musical). Wikipedia also tells us that "And This is My Beloved", is based on Borodin's String Quartet in D, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_This_Is_My_Beloved.

The song lyrics are as follows:

Dawn's promising skies

Petals on a pool drifting

Imagine these in one pair of eyes

And this is my beloved

Strange spice from the South

Honey through the comb sifting

Imagine these in one eager mouth

And this is my beloved

And when she speaks and when she talks to me

Music! Mystery!

And when she moves And when she walks with me

Paradise comes suddenly near

All that can stir All that can stun

All that's for the heart's lifting

Imagine these in one perfect one

And this is my beloved

And this is my beloved

Special thanks go to the following media source and the talents of past master artists which made this video possible:

Photos of Mario Lanza were taken from film clips of "The Great Caruso", owned by Turner Classic Movies. It is available for purchase.

Online photos of the original oil paintings used here were by the following master artists:

Their names are in order of their painting's appearance in the video:

Auguste Toulmouche, Le Billet 1883

Charles Joseph Frederic Soulacroix, After the Concert

Michael Dahl, Portrait of a Woman

Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1805-1873)

Charles Joseph Frederic Soulacroix, Flirtation 1

Charles Joseph Frederic Soulacroix, The Proposal

Sir Francis Dicksee, La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Ludwig Stutz (German, 1865-1917), Flirtation in the garden 1864

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Marriage of St. George and the Princess Sabra

Frederic Soulacroix, The Marriage Proposal

Johann Hamza, The Wedding

Peter Paul Rubens, Madonna and Child (detail)