SOFTLY, AS IN A MORNING SUNRISE

SOFTLY, AS IN A MORNING SUNRISE

---

This song is famous for a solecism, also called a pleonasm (redundancy), since a sunrise can only occur in the morning and a sunset in the evening. Pleonasms can function as intensives, as in "I saw it with my own eyes!" There used to be an insecticide commercial that advertised its product's effectiveness against insects by boasting, "It kills them DEAD!" as if there was any other way to kill. A wife who boasted she killed her husband dead would not only be guilty of murder but also of a solecism.
    The song is from the 1928 operetta, The New Moon, with music by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Hammerstein later became even more famous as part of the celebrated Broadway show team, Rodgers and Hammerstein, who wrote legendary shows, including Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Carousel, The Sound of Music, The Flower Drum Song, and The King and I.
    Included here are two different interpretations of the song. The first is in typical operetta style, sung by Mario Lanza, the most famous of pop tenors. Born in Philadelphia of Italian-Spanish parents, Alfredo Cocozza took his mother's maiden name, Maria Lanza, regendered it, and the rest is history.
    Lanza might have become a great opera singer but chose the more lucrative field of Hollywood and pop records instead. His hit, "Be My Love" (1951) became the first million-selling classical hit for RCA Records. Films followed, including The Great Caruso, until a temperamental conflict with MGM, which resulted in Lanza quitting production of the filmed operetta, The Student Prince after recording the songs for the film. The studio sued him but the suit was settled when Lanza allowed his recordings of the songs to be dubbed in the film (another actor was used), and the soundtrack became enormously popular. But Lanza didn't make another film for four years and a few years later, in 1959, he died of a heart attack while filming in Rome, 39 years old.
    The classical song, whether operetta or musical, was divided into three parts: a verse, chorus and release (the middle part of the chorus, also called the bridge: "For the passions that thrill love . . . so ends each story"). Lanza sings the entire song, including verse (below). But in the other performance, by pop singer, Bobby Darin, the verse is dropped, a custom among many pop singers, especially in the Rock 'n' Roll era, due to the constraints of radio air time (to attract sponsors, stations needed as many commercial breaks as possible, so longer records were frowned upon; hence the verse was usually dropped).
    In these two recordings, one by a pop tenor, the other by a pop singer, one can study how a song can be interpreted in widely different ways. Darin uses a big band style of arrangement and his phrasing is borrowed from big band singers, while Lanza's recording is in the tradition of operetta, with some pop phrasing and intonation.

[verse]:

LOVE CAME TO ME,

GAY AND TENDER,

LOVE CAME TO ME,

SWEET SURRENDER;

LOVE CAME TO ME

IN BRIGHT ROMANTIC SPLENDOR.

FICKLE WAS SHE,

FAITHFUL NEVER;

FICKLE WAS SHE

AND CLEVER,

SO WILL IT BE FOREVER,

FOREVER,

[Chorus]:

SOFTLY, AS IN A MORNING SUNRISE,

THE LIGHT OF LOVE COMES STEALING

INTO A NEW BORN DAY, OH!

FLAMING

WITH ALL THE GLOW OF SUNRISE,

A BURNING KISS IS SEALING

THE VOW THAT ALL WILL BETRAY.

FOR THE PASSIONS

THAT THRILL LOVE

AND LIFT YOU

HIGH TO HEAVEN,

ARE THE PASSIONS

THAT KILL LOVE

AND LET YOU FALL TO HELL!

SO ENDS EACH STORY.

SOFTLY, AS IN AN EVENING SUNSET,

THE LIGHT THAT GAVE YOU GLORY

WILL TAKE IT ALL AWAY!

---