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Mantovani was born Annunzio Paulo Mantovani in 1905 in Venice Italy. His dad was principal violinist under Arturo Toscanini at La Scala. He moved his family to England in 1912. Monty studied music at Trinity College and also studied counterpoint for two years. Regarding his style and arrangements, he was often quoted as saying he simply hears the arrangements quite clearly in his head. He simply jots the arrangement down on paper as they appear. His family played quite an important part in his early successes with his “Tipica Orchestra” and other early orchestras. He even recorded with his father in the orchestra and his sister doing vocal solos. Included in the early orchestras was a theatre organist and piano-accordionist called Ronald Binge ( composer of numerous musical pieces including the popular Elizabethan Serenade). To read more about Ronnie Binge, click here. Binge was important because he worked with Mantovani to formulate the sound or style for which the name is most famous. That is the Cascading Strings, which is a simplistic term for a rather complex arrangement that yields a most pleasing orchestra result. While many believe the results are attained because of modern electronic audio gadgetry, this is not true. He proudly and frequently stated he could achieve the results in any standard concert hall with the usual recording microphone placements. He also stated that he needed virtuoso musician’s to achieve the sound. He stated that he never deviated from the melody of the musical piece, and that his arrangements always kept within the natural range of the featured instruments. (This sounds like common sense to me!)

Interestingly enough, in spite of his record setting successes, Monty stated that what he attained earlier in his life (long before convincing London that he would like to produce recordings with a large string sectioned orchestra) had met his life goals.

Mantovani also did the orchestral arrangements for live theatre in England, most notably for Noel Coward.

His favorite orchestration using his modern style was Greensleeves. He liked it so much that he even named his home after that theme. The first big hit for him in the USA was Charmaine. A New York Disc Jockey named Martin Block who had a show called “Make Believe Ballroom” on New York’s WABC was an earlier and big supporter of the Genius Mantovani in the USA. I corresponded with Mr. Block for a time while I was a teenager. Mantovani and his family would occasionally host Martin Block at their home

, “Greensleeves.” For the life of me I cannot understand how someone could look at the sales and concert figures and conclude that Monty was an insignificant player in the musical scene.

He was married and had two children, Kenneth and Paula. I believe the children oversee the use of the name. I have attended concerts by the orchestra and it sounds just as elegant and wonderful as the recordings, maybe better since it is live. The last one I attended was ten years ago in the auditorium of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania High School. The concert was sold out as you may expect. The orchestra still plays to sold out audiences around the world. I haven’t really heard any arrangement since his death in 1980 that (in my opinion) truly captured the style and magic that he and Binge inspired. So if you see an album containing songs written after his death, be wary of the enclosed renditions. You can be sure Monty’s is venting his Scorpio anger in heaven, in between the times when he is called upon to arrange and conduct for angel's orchestra and choirs.

The Photo to the right was provided to the Mantovani Fan Website by the Daughter of Ivan Fosello who is featured in a story in the Latest News section (that includes other rare and priceless photos of Pianist Ivan Fosello at the Piano in the pre 1950 Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Mantovani. The photo with Mantovani holding what appears to be a viola or a very big violin (a little help would be appreciated on this note) is signed by Mantovani to "My friend Ivan Fosello with best wishes. Mantovani". Thank you Tania Fosello. Please see a couple of new photos of musicians who played under the Baton of Mantovani on the Virtuoso Musician's page. Hopefully some fans, friends or relatives may have some stories about these two or others in the collection and would be willing to share them with us.

At Last!!!

the

Mantovani Biography

"Mantovani, A Lifetime In Music"

written by our own Mantovani expert,

Mr. Colin MacKenzie,

has been published.

At long last the "full Monty" will be (prepublication orders) has been published and is currently available. A first full length biography of the man and his music will be published by Melrose Books in England, hopefully to coincide with the Centenary of Mantovani's birth on 15 November. Even with the many releases this year of Genuine Mantovani And His Orchestra music, this is the most exciting release for Mantovani fans.

The 24 chapter, 352 page hardback book, "Mantovani - A Lifetime In Music" tells the story of Mantovani's quest for musical perfection and how he eventually achieved it. Written with the co-operation of his family, his record producer, several former musicians, Decca luminaries and Mantovani fans, this is the "real deal", a book that no Mantovani fan or anyone interested in light orchestral music can afford to be without.

The link to the left is to Amazon.com USA Mantovani biography offering.

The long awaited Mantovani biography, "Mantovani A Lifetime in Music", was published 25 October, 2005 and is now available through Amazon and all good British bookstores. The IBSN no is 1 905226 19 5. You may click the picture to the right to take you directly to the listing at Amazon UK. If you order the book in this fashion, you will be helping to support this vast fan website.

I'd like to thank Colin MacKenzie for the book that Mantovani fans have been waiting for such a long time. You know that the information will be accurate and well written as demonstrated in the wealth of information supplied to this site by the erudite MacKenzie.

The book was published with input from the Mantovani family, Monty's producer, Tony D'Amato and other resources.

Here are some details on the book:

352 pages, 24 chapters
80 black and white photos
There are 4 Appendices; they list all Monty's original singles, and albums on LP, CD, both US/UK,
all his compositions and who recorded them,
his US tour programmes and over 200 of his British musicians.

Don't forget that the Mantovani Biography, "Mantovani - A Lifetime In Music," is described in greater detail in the Catalog.

Go ahead and order yours by clicking the book cover (above).

A Review of Monty's Biography from Thomas DeJulio:

The Man Who Made Strange Music

An uncle I was visiting on a Connecticut farm in 1969 asked me what music I liked to listen to. He was a rather conservative old fellow who loved classical music, so I knew he was ready to pounce on the answer he expected from his teenage nephew growing up with the Beatles and Stones and that vast array of other pop musical stars identified with rocks, turtles, and

apes. But I was ready to surprise and please my uncle with my answer. I boldly asserted that I loved to listen to the music of Mantovani. "Oh, that's interesting," he replied, "but he sure does some strange things with music."

For years, my old uncle's surprising comment puzzled me. Musical groups named for bugs and animals were doing strange things with music, not Mantovani!

A new full-length biography of Annunzio Paulo Mantovani by Colin MacKenzie unravels the puzzle, explains the strange dynamics and rubato that set apart Mantovani's music from others, and surprises the reader with facts and figures never before known about this less heralded British musical phenomenon of the twentieth century. The music Mantovani made in the fifties was as strange, exotic, newfangled, unheard of, and unfamiliar as any produced by Elvis in that decade, and Lennon and McCartney in the next.

As years pass, we realize that art glows at different angles when and where it is examined and experienced. And generally the world is looked at differently afterwards. "Mantovani: A Lifetime in Music" published by Melrose Books is a story that allows us to look at the art of one who made a difference in the musical world.

Venetian born, British educated, and classically trained in music, Mantovani and his imaginative new sounds for light orchestra brought instant name recognition and a modest fortune to one man, and inexplicable pleasure to millions who rushed to install newfangled stereo speakers to their record players and flocked by the thousands to glamorous concert halls and stark gymnasiums to enjoy popular and light classical music like it was never played or heard before.

Mantovani's "new music" evolved from an upbringing weaned on perfection. His classical musician father, coincidently named Bismarck Benedet to, insisted upon excellence, order, and discipline. Discipline would be one of the hallmarks ingrained in his son's approach to music. The "feeling" Annunzio always wanted his music to convey likely came from the warmth and confidence of his mother, Iparia. MacKenzie makes a striking connection between Bismarck's wariness of his son's abilities to meet certain "standards" in his musicianship and the workaholic tendencies that dominated Annunzio's recording and performance standards since his entry on the music scene in glitzy hotels in the 1930's and in Noel Coward's orchestra pit in the 1940's. Accordingly, we see Mantovani as a man always on the move, always willing to attempt something new, something more, and working hard to stay fresh and successful.

MacKenzie also connects a fledgling fear that success may be fleeting as driving Mantovani to higher expectations of himself as well as others. The amusing colloquies he includes in this biography between the maestro and his musicians during recording sessions and concert rehearsals not only entertain us, but inform our understanding about his subject's personality, a man with a British head and an Italian heart.

The author meticulously places Mantovani and the sound revolution he instigated in the context of his times. With bountiful details and a wealth of personal recollections, MacKenzie provides enormous insight into the budding recording industry of popular music and the fascinating lives of musicians, arrangers, producers, engineers, fixers, and yes, even sales distributors, whose energies and individual talents symbiotically seized the "sound" Mantovani had in his head and advanced its creation and promotion in all the world's continents. One such talent deserving long overdue focus was Ronald Binge, whose early collaboration with Mantovani is fully and fairly illuminated here. The author's objective account graciously invites closure on the debate over who should receive "credit" for the unique "layered string sound" that reverberated in the radio airwaves in the early fifties with Charmaine Greensleeves, Wyoming, and other lilting waltz melodies that launched Mantovani's meteoric rise on the Billboard charts.

Thanks to MacKenzie's prolific research, readers will also get to know other unknown or little remembered musicians like trumpeter Stan Newsome, percussionist Charles Botterill, flautist Lionel (Solly) Solomon, accordionist Emile Charlier, violinist (and father of The Man from Uncle) David McCallum. All of these and others whose brilliant solo performances were wisely featured by Mantovani in his repertoire, enriched the distinctive lush sound of the world's most mesmerizing orchestra.

Indeed, this biography is as revealing about one life as it about the lives of those who helped make Mantovani a music legend. Nonetheless, MacKenzie provides compelling evidence that Mantovani's success resulted primarily from his own ability to inspire and impose his will on musicians and business collaborators. Not a mean feat in an industry filled with strong wills and artistic egos. But Mantovani commanded such a high degree of respect for his unwavering commitment to standards of excellence that relatively few with whom he worked became grossly offended or alienated. Besides, who could complain when the popularity of the Mantovani sound and the novel attraction to stereo and the rise of FM radio stations in America fed off each other to produce a lucrative money engine for so many, some of whom including British tax collectors benefiting more than the maestro himself.

Few today recall that Mantovani was the first recording artist to sell one million stereo records and whose success as a British musical act in America was incomparable until the Beatles stepped ashore. And who knew Mantovani and the Rolling Stones shared at one point the same record label and recording studio, continuously swapping the amount of echo for their respective sessions. How ironic it is that record company profits from the unprecedented sales of Mantovani recordings fueled the advance of Mick Jagger's career.

Colin MacKenzie's startling revelations make this biography provocative and groundbreaking. It shatters myths and misinformation, and sheds new light on a subject who has long been obscured and the target of rappers razzing, jazzer's jabbing, classical musicians' contempt, and deejays' disdain. That pretty much covers everyone, except those millions who actually listened (and some who still are) and mystifyingly attracted to the way Mantovani's strange music weaves magical memories and sweet dreams out of fervently resilient melodies. For them, the laughter from others is worth every listening moment.

Thomas E. DeJulio

Mantovani Fan Website editor's note: I received the book, "Mantovani A Lifetime in Music" and as predicted by my Japanese friend, Akima Toru, I would not be able to put it down until I finish. Colin MacKenzie's masterpiece presented details of our hero that helped me understand Mantovani as I never believed I would. As you may expect, after reading some of MacKenzie's writing on this website the book is very easy reading, authoritative, and detailed. I am sure that Mantovani would be very pleased. I learned that throughout Monty's career he was a hard working, creative, and ambitious music master who provided well for the musicians who worked for him. He also was a gentleman who appreciated his fans as much as they appreciated him. The world is a better place because of his existence.
Nice work Colin. I know that Mantovani fans around the world are going to enjoy the book.

Wes Stillwagon

Webmaster, Mantovani Fan Website

On the Personal Side:

I have bristled over the years when someone referred to the beautiful music from Mantovani, Percy Faith, or James Last as “Elevator Music,” or when they equate the perfection that I hear in most of their arrangements to (in my opinion) to the soulless renditions supplied to public buildings by Muzak^® or the like! He produced over forty albums in the fifties with many of them going into the top forty. He is the first person to sell over a million stereo recordings. His “Exodus” album stayed in the top forty for almost one year in 1961.

As a result of such blindness in musical taste, you cannot find a radio station that features beautiful orchestrations such as those from Percy Faith, James Last, or Mantovani in the New York City area. I suspect that many people would benefit from such music and there are people who haven't heard such music or those who really haven't listened enough to offer a qualified judgment. I do know that there were studies done with plants placed with speakers with Mantovani playing who seemed to thrive more than those who didn't. I also know that cows will produce more milk when they are treated to the elegant arrangements of Mantovani. Who knows, perhaps there are some other things that could be healed with such music.

I can remember my first encounter with Mantovani Music (boy, this is really going to date me!). My dad operated a service station (believe it or not, in those days, service stations mainly serviced automobiles and sold gasoline as a sideline, at about 25 cents per gallon). I would usually fill in for him (mainly pumping gas) while he went for supper. To do this, I had to travel by Trenton Transit Bus from my home in Mercerville (a suburb of Trenton, New Jersey, USA) to his station in North Trenton.

In 1952 to 1956 or thereabouts, the Trenton area was lucky enough to get its first FM radio station with the call letters, WTOA. The station had studios and offices less than a mile from my father’s North Trenton service station. Trenton Transit Busses had FM receivers (tuned to WTOA) and speakers installed for the enjoyment of the riding public. Their format included mainly the playing of transcription disks of “easy listening” music. This was music with considerable elegance and class, not Muzak! While riding home on the bus one day, I was absolutely floored by a rendition of the Blue Danube Waltz (MP3) that came from those cheezy little speakers. In fact, I was so impressed that I called the radio station. They were more than happy to get rid of me by looking up the orchestra.

They told me that the recording I was referring to by Mantovani. I heard the name before. My accordion teacher enthusiastically referred to him as a maestro who actually used a piano accordion in his arrangements. (This is an important fact, as you will read.) The piano accordion was beginning to lose favor as an orchestra instrument at that time. It is beginning to make a very favorable comeback from the 1990’s.

I went to Hal’s Record Shop on South Broad Street in Trenton and purchased Mantovani’s second album. It was titled “Diane” (the piece was written by Erno Rapee, the first conductor of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and eventual major influence in arranging music for motion picture, like Robert Russell Bennett. It was one of a series of tunes named after women, including Charmaine. It was either the only album by Mantovani at Hal’s or the only one I could afford. I soon purchased every album by Monty that I could find. Eventually I had his Waltzes that included the spectacularly beautiful Blue Danube. Listening to his arrangements and the arrangements of others in his style afforded me a sense of perfection, or heaven in a far from perfect world. It is the same sense that I get when I hear many arrangements of Percy Faith, like “The Theme from Moulin Rouge.” What enabled me to determine that standard since I had very little musical training at this time, I do not know; I know that I am completely (and perhaps intuitively) comfortable with this personal opinion. The important thing is that nearly every arrangement gave me that wonderful feeling. It was nice to know that someone held up such a standard for excellence.

If there remains any doubt about the international popularity and love for this great composer, arranger, and conductor, please read the greetings that are accessed via the buttons below.

Centenary Greetings from Fans

"The Mantovani family would like to thank everyone who sent a message regarding the 100th anniversary of our late father's birth and are very appreciative of so many lovely tributes. We thank you all very much indeed and trust you will continue to enjoy his music."

Ken Mantovani

Mantovani Chronology (Place cursor over date)