"The Loveliest Night of the Year" is a popular song. The music was first published as a waltz called " Sobre las olas" ("Over the Waves") in 1888, written by Juventino P. Rosas. In

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

, the music was adapted by Irving Aaronson with lyrics by

Paul Francis Webster Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award. Life and career Webster was born in New York City, United St ...

for the movie '' The Great Caruso'', in which it was sung by

Ann Blyth Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an American retired actress and singer. For her performance as Veda in the 1945 Michael Curtiz film ''Mildred Pierce'', Blyth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is one of ...

. Later, Mario Lanza recorded the song. It became one of the most popular songs of 1951, reaching number three in the US Billboard Charts. Lanza received his third Gold Disc for this song. In the UK, the song was a number one hit based on sales of

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

. It reached the top spot in January 1952, staying there for four weeks. The song was also associated with Anne Shelton, whose contemporary recording was available alongside Lanza's. The instrumental version of the song is often associated with magicians performing their "magical tricks", and flying trapeze acts, with whom it is often played in the background, especially in

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

s. It is so commonly associated with these entertainments as to be iconic, although few people know it the music by name. In this fashion a snatch of the song featured on the single "Drowning in Berlin", a no.9 UK hit for The Mobiles in 1982.

Other film appearances

* 1936 - '' The Beloved Vagabond''

Other recordings

* 1950 - Helen O'Connell * 1951 -

* 1954 - Vera Lynn * 1960 - Connie Francis for her album ''More Italian Favorites''. * 1962 -

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

- included in his album '' On the Happy Side''. * 1962 -

Keely Smith Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), profession ...

for her album ''Because You're Mine''. * 1967- Paulo Diniz adapted the song in portuguese with the title "Seria Bom". * 2008 - Alfio for his album ''Classic Rewinds'', which pays tribute to Mario Lanza and 14 other popular Italian-American singers.

References

Songs with music by Juventino Rosas Songs with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster 1888 songs Mario Lanza songs {{pop-standard-stub