At Hollywood Highschool,
Bernice Hutchinson had us performing VERY grown-up music. She had a unique way of giving the semester’s final exams. She would call on the 16 of us, one-by-one and have us sing our part of a composition of her choosing. Some sang very quietly. I “belted” my part out so I always got an A. 

My neighbor, the actor Renzo Cesana, was Italian so I invited him to Hollywood High to teach us pronunciation. The girls in the class were immediately smitten by his continental attire, his thick Italian accent, his charm and gracefulness. They hung on his every word. It was beautiful to see. He taught us how pronounce the words. 

Roger Wagner 

invited us to sing for him at the downtown LA Music Center. 

He liked our performances. He asked Bernice, “Would you let me conduct your group?” Bernice was elegant and a pure theatrical show-person. She bowed to Roger while handing him her baton.

Roger asked us what we would like to perform for him, we said
Ecco Mormorar L’onde. 

Roger was delighted. We sang to Roger (all in Italian) just the way Renzo taught us. A translation of the Italian is this.

Now the waves murmur
And the boughs and the shrubs tremble in the morning breeze,
And on the green branches the pleasant birds
Sing softly

And the east smiles;
Now dawn already appears
And mirrors herself in the sea,
And makes the sky serene,

And the gentle frost impearls the fields
And gilds the high mountains:
O beautiful and gracious Aurora,
The breeze is your messenger, and you the breeze's
Which revives each burnt-out heart.

In my memory, we sounded just like this.