Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley was based on Plaisir d'amour" (literally "The pleasure of love") and featured in the Presley film Blue Hawaii in 1961 - sung to a musical box accompaniment and a full version was recorded for the album and the hit single. It has a long history of being covered including the UB40 version in the 1980's.As for the original "Plaisir d'amour" (literally "The pleasure of love") is a classical French love song written in 1780 by Jean Paul Égide Martini (1741-1816). It was arranged for orchestra by Hector Berlioz (1803–1869). Although it has been adapted as a piece of pop music, it was written in a classical style during the classical period."
The song, originally composed in 1780, took its libretto from a poem by Jean de Florian (1755–1794), which is in his romance. Notable interpretations of the song include those of Joan Baez, The Seekers, Vicki Brown, Marianne Faithfull, Brigitte Bardot, Karen Allyson, Nana Mouskouri and Charlotte Church. Also those of classical singers such as Victoria de los Angeles, Tito Schipa, Fritz Wunderlich and many others. One of the more unusual recordings is by Paul Robeson. It was performed by Irene Dunne in Love Affair; Maria Ouspenskaya accompanies on the piano." More here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaisir_d'Amour where you can also find the French lyrics and an English translation.
Jean Paul Egide Martini
Jean Paul Egide Martini, (August 31, 1741 – February 10, 1816) was a composer of classical music. Sometimes known as Martini Il Tedesco, he is best known today for the vocal romance "Plaisir d'Amour," on which the 1961 Elvis Presley standard "Can't Help Falling in Love" is based.
Martini was born Johann Paul Aegidius Schwarzendorf in Freystadt, Bavaria. He adopted the family name Martini after moving to France as a young man. There, he established a successful career as a court musician. Having directed concerts for the Queen he adapted to the changing regimes throughout the French Revolution, and later wrote music for Napoleon's marriage as well as for the restored Royal Chapel. In 1764, he married Marguerite Camelot. His melodic opera L'amoureux de quinze ans written in 1771 enjoyed great success. In addition, his highly popular church music combined old forms with modern theatricality, and his chansons including "Plaisir D'Amour" were influential. In 1800 he became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He died in Paris in February of 1816." More here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Paul_%C3%89gide_Martini
Jean de Florian
To modern readers, Florian is chiefly known as the author of pretty fables well suited as reading for the young, but his contemporaries praised him also for his poetical and pastoral novels. Florian was very fond of Spain and its literature, doubtless owing to the influence of his Castilian mother, and both abridged and imitated the works of Cervantes.
Florian's first literary efforts were comedies; his verse epistle Voltaire et le serf du Mont Jura and an eclogue Ruth were crowned by the French Academy in 1782 and 1784 respectively. In 1782 also he produced a one-act prose comedy, Le Bon Ménage, and in the next year Galatie, a romantic tale in imitation of the Galatea of Cervantes. Other short tales and comedies followed, and in 1786 appeared Numa Pompilius, an undisguised imitation of Fénelon's Telémaque." More here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Claris_de_Florian
The song was adapted for Elvis by Weiss, Peretti, Creatore -
The Co-writers of Can't Help Falling in Love
George David Weiss
"George David Weiss (April 9, 1921, New York City – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and former President of the Songwriters Guild of America. He was a very prolific songwriter during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, with many of his songs attaining high rankings on the charts. Although he worked with many collaborators, the largest proportion of his well-known songs were written with Bennie Benjamin. Collaborations on three Broadway musicals were among his compositions. Mr. Wonderful was written in 1956 with Jerry Bock and Larry Holofcener.
His music was recorded by singers such as Tom Jones, Mel Tormé, Elvis Presley, Dinah Washington, The Stylistics, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Sammy Davis Jr.Weiss wrote the lyrics for the Jazz standard Lullaby of Birdland, which became a huge hit for Ella Fitzgerald. In 1984 Weiss was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame." More here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_David_Weiss
Hugo Peretti
Hugo E. Peretti (December 6, 1916 - May 1, 1986) was an American songwriter and record producer.
Born in New York City, Hugo Peretti began his career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Borscht Belt in upstate New York. He graduated to playing with orchestras then in the 1950s partnered with his cousin Luigi Creatore to form the Hugo & Luigi songwriting team that evolved to producing records. In 1957, they bought into Roulette Records where they both wrote songs for various artists such as Valerie Carr and produced major hits for Jimmie Rodgers including "Honeycomb" (Billboard # 1) and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (Billboard # 3), and "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again" and "Secretly".
Two years later, Peretti and Creatore signed a contract with RCA Records where they produced crooner Perry Como. In addition, they produced Sam Cooke and Ray Peterson and wrote English lyrics for the song[1] "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (with the original bulk of the song written by Solomon Linda), producing the hit for The Tokens. With George David Weiss they co-wrote "Can't Help Falling in Love" for RCA's mega-star, Elvis Presley. Peretti and Creatore also wrote the Presley hit single Wild in the Country. He and Creatore left RCA in 1964 to join George David Weiss in writing a musical about the American Civil War. Titled Maggie Flynn, it ran on Broadway in 1968. The family of South African composer Solomon Linda reached a settlement in the lawsuit over his world-famous song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," in 2006.
In the 1970s, Peretti and Creatore owned part of Avco Records and then established H&L Records which they operated until retiring at the end of the decade. Among their successes were recordings by The Stylistics and The Softones. They also won the 1977 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album as producers for "Bubbling Brown Sugar."
Hugo Peretti died in 1986 in Englewood, New Jersey, aged 69." More here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Peretti
Luigi Creatore (born December 21, 1921, Hell's Kitchen, New York) is a retired American songwriter and record producer. More here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Creatore
From a musical family, Creatore began his career as a writer.
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