Nino Rota - wikipedia Nino Rota Nino Rota Rinaldi Nino Rota ( left ) Giovanni Rota Rinaldi 3 December 1911 Milan, Italy 10 April 1979 ( 1979 - 04 - 10 ) ( aged 67 ) Rome, Italy Occupation Composer Children Nina Rota ( daughter ) Giovanni `` Nino '' Rota ( 3 December 1911 -- 10 April 1979 ) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli 's Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola 's Godfather trilogy, receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Godfather Part II ( 1974 ). During his long career Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979 -- an average of three scores each year over a 46 - year period, and in his most productive period from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s he wrote as many as ten scores every year, and sometimes more, with a remarkable thirteen film scores to his credit in 1954. Alongside this great body of film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works, the best known being his string concerto. He also composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zeffirelli and Eduardo De Filippo as well as maintaining a long teaching career at the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy, where he was the director for almost 30 years. Contents 1 Early career 2 Film scores 3 Orchestral, chamber and choral music 4 Operas 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Quotations 8 Works 9 Discography 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Early career Rota at age 12. Giovanni Rota was born into a musical family in Milan. Rota was a renowned child prodigy -- his first oratorio, L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, was written at age 11 and performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923 ; his three - act lyrical comedy after Hans Christian Andersen, Il Principe Porcaro, was composed when he was just 13 and published in 1926. He studied at the Milan conservatory there under Giacomo Orefice and then undertook serious study of composition under Ildebrando Pizzetti and Alfredo Casella at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, graduating in 1930. Encouraged by Arturo Toscanini, Rota moved to the United States where he lived from 1930 to 1932. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, where he was taught conducting by Fritz Reiner and had Rosario Scalero as an instructor in composition. Returning to Milan, he wrote a thesis on the Renaissance composer Gioseffo Zarlino. Rota earned a degree in literature from the University of Milan, graduating in 1937, and began a teaching career that led to the directorship of the Liceo Musicale in Bari, a title he held from 1950 until 1978. Film scores Nino Rota wrote the score for the film ' The glass mountain ' in 1949. Notable was the singing of Tito Gobi, one of the worlds greatest baritones. The film won a number of awards. In his entry on Rota in the 1988 edition of The Concise Baker 's Biographical Dictionary of Composers and Musicians, music scholar Nicholas Slonimsky described Rota as `` brilliant '' and stated that his musical style : ``... demonstrates a great facility and even felicity, with occasional daring excursions into dodecaphony. However his most durable compositions are related to his music for the cinema ; he composed the sound tracks of a great number of films of the Italian director Federico Fellini covering the period from 1950 to 1979. '' Furthermore, one of his compositional habits in particular came up for disapproving remarks : his penchant for pastiche of various past styles, which quite often turned into outright quotation of his own earlier music or even others ' music. One of the most noticed examples of such incorporation is his use of the Larghetto from Dvorák 's Opus 22 Serenade for Strings in E major as a theme for a character in Fellini 's La Strada. During the 1940s, Rota composed scores for more than 32 films, including Renato Castellani 's Zaza ( it ) ( 1944 ). His association with Fellini began with Lo sceicco bianco ( The White Sheik ) ( 1952 ), followed by I vitelloni ( 1953 ) and La strada ( The Road ) ( 1954 ). They continued to work together for decades, and Fellini recalled : The most precious collaborator I have ever had, I say it straightaway and do n't even have to hesitate, was Nino Rota -- between us, immediately, a complete, total, harmony... He had a geometric imagination, a musical approach worthy of celestial spheres. He thus had no need to see images from my movies. When I asked him about the melodies he had in mind to comment one sequence or another, I clearly realized he was not concerned with images at all. His world was inner, inside himself, and reality had no way to enter it. The relationship between Fellini and Rota was so strong that even at Fellini 's funeral Giulietta Masina, Fellini 's wife, asked trumpeter Mauro Maur to play Rota 's Improvviso dell'Angelo in the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. Rota 's score for Fellini 's 81⁄2 ( 1963 ) is often cited as one of the factors which makes the film cohesive. His score for Fellini 's Juliet of the Spirits ( 1965 ) included a collaboration with Eugene Walter on the song, `` Go Milk the Moon '' ( cut from the final version of the film ), and they teamed again for the song `` What Is a Youth ? '', part of Rota 's score for Franco Zeffirelli 's Romeo and Juliet. The American Film Institute ranked Rota 's score for The Godfather # 5 on their list of the greatest film scores. His score for War and Peace was also nominated for the list. In all, Rota wrote scores to more than 150 films. Orchestral, chamber and choral music Rota wrote numerous concerti and other orchestral works as well as piano, chamber and choral music, much of which has been recorded and released on CD. After his death from heart failure in 1979, Rota 's music was the subject of Hal Willner 's 1981 tribute album Amarcord Nino Rota, which featured several at the time relatively unknown but now famous jazz musicians. Gus Van Sant used some of Rota 's music in his 2007 film Paranoid Park and director Michael Winterbottom used several Rota selections in the 2005 film Tristram Shandy : A Cock and Bull Story. Danny Elfman frequently cites Nino Rota as a major influence. Director Mario Monicelli filmed a documentary Un amico magico : il maestro Nino Rota which featured interviews with Franco Zeffirelli and Riccardo Muti ( a student under Rota at Bari Conservatory ), and was followed by a German documentary Nino Rota - Un maestro della musica. Both explored film and concert sides of the composer. Operas His 1955 opera Il cappello di paglia di Firenze ( The Florentine Straw Hat ) is an adaptation of the play by Eugène Labiche and was presented by the Santa Fe Opera in 1977. In 2005 his opera Aladino e la lampada magica ( Aladdin and the Magical Lamp ), with Cosmin Ifrim in the title role, was performed in German translation at the Vienna State Opera and released on DVD. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze and Aladino e la lampada magica are regularly staged in Europe as are many symphonic and chamber titles Written for a radio production by RAI in 1950, his short opera, I due timidi ( The Two Timid Ones ), was presented by the Santa Fe Opera as part of their pre-season `` One - Hour Opera '' program in May / June 2008. Personal life Rota has one daughter, Nina Rota, from a relationship with pianist Magda Longari. Death Rota died from a coronary thrombosis in Rome, aged 67. Quotations Federico Fellini recalls his first chance meeting with Rota : `` Outside Cinecittà, I noticed a funny little man waiting in the wrong place for the tram. He seemed happily oblivious of everything. I felt compelled... to wait with him... I was certain that the tram would stop in its regular place and we would have to run for it, and he was equally certain it would stop where he was standing... To my surprise, the tram did stop right in front of us. '' A critic conversing with Nino Rota at the age of eleven just prior to a performance of his oratorio, The Childhood of St. John the Baptist, in 1923 : Critic : `` Do you like playing ? '' Rota : `` Whenever I can... Is it hard to write for a newspaper ? '' Critic : `` It 's not easy to do a good article '' Rota : `` Have you come from Brussels specially to hear my oratorio ? '' Critic : `` I certainly have, my little friend. '' Rota : `` That 's really funny. I wo n't be conducting it tonight. Yesterday the double bass snubbed me '' On his friendship with Igor Stravinsky : `` Stravinsky was fun ; his mind struck sparks. Age was no barrier - ours became a true friendship, despite distance and meeting ever more rarely. '' Nino Rota reflecting on the unhappiness of others : `` When I 'm creating at the piano, I tend to feel happy ; but - the eternal dilemma - how can we be happy amid the unhappiness of others ? I 'd do everything I could to give everyone a moment of happiness. That 's what 's at the heart of my music. '' Federico Fellini on Nino Rota : `` He was someone who had a rare quality belonging to the world of intuition. Just like children, simple men, sensitive people, innocent people, he would suddenly say dazzling things. As soon as he arrived, stress disappeared, everything turned into a festive atmosphere ; the movie entered a joyful, serene, fantastic period, a new life. '' Works See List of compositions by Nino Rota and List of film scores by Nino Rota Discography See Nino Rota discography References Jump up ^ ninorota.com ^ Jump up to : `` Nino Rota Music Catalogue ''. Jump up ^ Nicholas Slonimsky, The Concise Baker 's Biographical Dictionary of Composers and Musicians ( Simon & Schuster, London, 1988, ISBN 0 - 671 - 69896 - 6 ), p. 1063 ^ Jump up to : Slonimsky, p. 1063 Jump up ^ AllMusic. Nino Rota - Le Molière imaginaire, ballet suite for orchestra Jump up ^ Rota & Fellini Archived 2010 - 11 - 20 at the Wayback Machine., Cadrage, April / May 2003 Jump up ^ `` fellini_funerali ITALIANO - Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri alle Terme di Diocleziano di Roma ''. Jump up ^ `` Nino Rota ''. Jump up ^ Videtti, Giuseppe. `` Amarcord Nino Rota ``, La Repubblica Milano, 20 April 2014. Kennedy, Michael ( 2006 ), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 985 pages, ISBN 0 - 19 - 861459 - 4 Further reading Richard Dyer. Nino Rota : Music, Film, and Feeling. New York : Palgrave and Macmillan ( on behalf of the British Film Institute ), 2010. Franco Sciannameo. Nino Rota 's The Godfather Trilogy : A Film Score Guide. Scarecrow Press, 2010. John Simon. The Other Rota. The New Criterion, Vol. 34, No. 10 / June 2016 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nino Rota. Wikiquote has quotations related to : Nino Rota Official website Nino Rota at Encyclopædia Britannica Schott Music profile Nino Rota on IMDb Nino Rota at Find a Grave Nino Rota Operas Il cappello di paglia di Firenze I due timidi Concertos Trombone Concerto Film soundtracks Romeo and Juliet The Godfather `` Speak Softly, Love '' The Godfather Part II The Godfather Part III Related articles List of compositions by Nino Rota List of film scores by Nino Rota Nino Rota discography The Godfather Novels The Godfather The Sicilian The Godfather Returns The Godfather 's Revenge The Family Corleone Films The Godfather The Godfather Part II The Godfather Part III Video games The Godfather ( 1991 ) The Godfather ( 2006 ) The Godfather II ( 2009 ) Corleone family Vito Corleone Michael Corleone Tom Hagen Sonny Corleone Fredo Corleone Carmela Corleone Kay Adams - Corleone Connie Corleone Anthony Corleone Mary Corleone Vincent Corleone Sandra Corleone Family allies Luca Brasi Peter Clemenza Al Neri Frank Pentangeli Salvatore Tessio Family enemies Don Altobello Emilio Barzini Don Fanucci Moe Greene Carlo Rizzi Hyman Roth Joey Zasa Others Amerigo Bonasera Cardinal Lamberto Lucy Mancini Danny Shea Mickey Shea Billy Van Arsdale Aldo Trapani Albert Volpe Music The Godfather ( soundtrack ) The Godfather Part II ( soundtrack ) The Godfather Part III ( soundtrack ) `` Speak Softly, Love '' `` Promise Me You 'll Remember '' Miscellaneous List of minor characters in The Godfather series Mario Puzo Mark Winegardner Edward Falco Five Families Corleone The Godfather Effect The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions The Godfather Saga The Last Don Omertà The Sicilian Book Awards for Nino Rota Academy Award for Best Original Score 1930s Louis Silvers ( 1934 ) Max Steiner ( 1935 ) Leo F. Forbstein ( 1936 ) Charles Previn ( 1937 ) Erich Wolfgang Korngold / Alfred Newman ( 1938 ) Herbert Stothart / Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, Leo Shuken ( 1939 ) 1940s Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Ned Washington / Alfred Newman ( 1940 ) Bernard Herrmann / Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace ( 1941 ) Max Steiner / Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld ( 1942 ) Alfred Newman / Ray Heindorf ( 1943 ) Max Steiner / Morris Stoloff and Carmen Dragon ( 1944 ) Miklós Rózsa / Georgie Stoll ( 1945 ) Hugo Friedhofer / Morris Stoloff ( 1946 ) Miklós Rózsa / Alfred Newman ( 1947 ) Brian Easdale / Johnny Green and Roger Edens ( 1948 ) Aaron Copland / Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton ( 1949 ) 1950s Franz Waxman / Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens ( 1950 ) Franz Waxman / Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin ( 1951 ) Dimitri Tiomkin / Alfred Newman ( 1952 ) Bronisław Kaper / Alfred Newman ( 1953 ) Dimitri Tiomkin / Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin ( 1954 ) Alfred Newman / Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton and Adolph Deutsch ( 1955 ) Victor Young / Alfred Newman and Ken Darby ( 1956 ) Malcolm Arnold ( 1957 ) Dimitri Tiomkin / Andre Previn ( 1958 ) Miklós Rózsa / Andre Previn and Ken Darby ( 1959 ) 1960s Ernest Gold / Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman ( 1960 ) Henry Mancini / Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal ( 1961 ) Maurice Jarre / Ray Heindorf ( 1962 ) John Addison / Andre Previn ( 1963 ) Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman / Andre Previn ( 1964 ) Maurice Jarre / Irwin Kostal ( 1965 ) John Barry / Ken Thorne ( 1966 ) Elmer Bernstein / Alfred Newman and Ken Darby ( 1967 ) John Barry / Johnny Green ( 1968 ) Burt Bacharach / Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman ( 1969 ) 1970s Francis Lai / The Beatles ( John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ) ( 1970 ) Michel Legrand / John Williams ( 1971 ) Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell / Ralph Burns ( 1972 ) Marvin Hamlisch / Marvin Hamlisch ( 1973 ) Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola / Nelson Riddle ( 1974 ) John Williams / Leonard Rosenman ( 1975 ) Jerry Goldsmith / Leonard Rosenman ( 1976 ) John Williams / Jonathan Tunick ( 1977 ) Giorgio Moroder / Joe Renzetti ( 1978 ) Georges Delerue / Ralph Burns ( 1979 ) 1980s Michael Gore ( 1980 ) Vangelis ( 1981 ) John Williams / Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse ( 1982 ) Bill Conti / Michel Legrand, Alan and Marilyn Bergman ( 1983 ) Maurice Jarre / Prince ( 1984 ) John Barry ( 1985 ) Herbie Hancock ( 1986 ) Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su ( 1987 ) Dave Grusin ( 1988 ) Alan Menken ( 1989 ) 1990s John Barry ( 1990 ) Alan Menken ( 1991 ) Alan Menken ( 1992 ) John Williams ( 1993 ) Hans Zimmer ( 1994 ) Luis Enríquez Bacalov / Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz ( 1995 ) Gabriel Yared / Rachel Portman ( 1996 ) James Horner / Anne Dudley ( 1997 ) Nicola Piovani / Stephen Warbeck ( 1998 ) John Corigliano ( 1999 ) 2000s Tan Dun ( 2000 ) Howard Shore ( 2001 ) Elliot Goldenthal ( 2002 ) Howard Shore ( 2003 ) Jan A.P. Kaczmarek ( 2004 ) Gustavo Santaolalla ( 2005 ) Gustavo Santaolalla ( 2006 ) Dario Marianelli ( 2007 ) A.R. Rahman ( 2008 ) Michael Giacchino ( 2009 ) 2010s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross ( 2010 ) Ludovic Bource ( 2011 ) Mychael Danna ( 2012 ) Steven Price ( 2013 ) Alexandre Desplat ( 2014 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2015 ) Justin Hurwitz ( 2016 ) Alexandre Desplat ( 2017 ) BAFTA Award for Best Film Music John Barry ( 1968 ) Mikis Theodorakis ( 1969 ) Burt Bacharach ( 1970 ) Michel Legrand ( 1971 ) Nino Rota ( 1972 ) Alan Price ( 1973 ) Richard Rodney Bennett ( 1974 ) John Williams ( 1975 ) Bernard Herrmann ( 1976 ) John Addison ( 1977 ) John Williams ( 1978 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1979 ) John Williams ( 1980 ) Carl Davis ( 1981 ) John Williams ( 1982 ) Ryuichi Sakamoto ( 1983 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1984 ) Maurice Jarre ( 1985 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1986 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1987 ) John Williams ( 1988 ) Maurice Jarre ( 1989 ) Andrea and Ennio Morricone ( 1990 ) Jean - Claude Petit ( 1991 ) David Hirschfelder ( 1992 ) John Williams ( 1993 ) Don Was ( 1994 ) Luis Bacalov ( 1995 ) Gabriel Yared ( 1996 ) Nellee Hooper ( 1997 ) David Hirschfelder ( 1998 ) Thomas Newman ( 1999 ) Tan Dun ( 2000 ) Craig Armstrong and Marius de Vries ( 2001 ) Philip Glass ( 2002 ) T Bone Burnett and Gabriel Yared ( 2003 ) Gustavo Santaolalla ( 2004 ) John Williams ( 2005 ) Gustavo Santaolalla ( 2006 ) Christopher Gunning ( 2007 ) A.R. Rahman ( 2008 ) Michael Giacchino ( 2009 ) Alexandre Desplat ( 2010 ) Ludovic Bource ( 2011 ) Thomas Newman ( 2012 ) Steven Price ( 2013 ) Alexandre Desplat ( 2014 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2015 ) Justin Hurwitz ( 2016 ) Alexandre Desplat ( 2017 ) David di Donatello Award for Best Score 1975 -- 2000 Piero Piccioni ( 1975 ) Franco Mannino ( 1976 ) Nino Rota ( 1977 ) Armando Trovajoli ( 1978 ) Fiorenzo Carpi ( 1981 ) Lucio Dalla and Fabio Liberatori ( 1982 ) Angelo Branduardi ( 1983 ) Armando Trovajoli and Vladimir Cosma ( 1984 ) Carlo Savina ( 1985 ) Riz Ortolani / Nicola Piovani ( 1986 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1988 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1989 ) Claudio Mattone ( 1990 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1991 ) Franco Piersanti ( 1992 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1993 ) Nicola Piovani ( 1994 ) Franco Piersanti ( 1995 ) Manuel De Sica ( 1996 ) Paolo Conte ( 1997 ) Nino D'Angelo ( 1998 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1999 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2000 ) 2001 -- present Nicola Piovani ( 2001 ) Fabio Vacchi ( 2002 ) Andrea Guerra ( 2003 ) Banda Osiris ( 2004 ) Riz Ortolani ( 2005 ) Franco Piersanti ( 2006 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2007 ) Paolo Buonvino ( 2008 ) Teho Teardo ( 2009 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2010 ) Rita Marcotulli and Rocco Papaleo ( 2011 ) David Byrne ( 2012 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2013 ) Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi ( 2014 ) Giuliano Taviani ( 2015 ) David Lang ( 2016 ) Enzo Avitabile ( 2017 ) Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi ( 2018 ) Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score 1940s Life with Father -- Max Steiner ( 1947 ) The Red Shoes -- Brian Easdale ( 1948 ) The Inspector General -- Johnny Green ( 1949 ) 1950s Sunset Boulevard -- Franz Waxman ( 1950 ) September Affair -- Victor Young ( 1951 ) High Noon -- Dimitri Tiomkin ( 1952 ) On the Beach -- Ernest Gold ( 1959 ) 1960s The Alamo -- Dimitri Tiomkin ( 1960 ) The Guns of Navarone -- Dimitri Tiomkin ( 1961 ) To Kill a Mockingbird -- Elmer Bernstein ( 1962 ) ( 1963 ) The Fall of the Roman Empire -- Dimitri Tiomkin ( 1964 ) Doctor Zhivago -- Maurice Jarre ( 1965 ) Hawaii -- Elmer Bernstein ( 1966 ) Camelot -- Frederick Loewe ( 1967 ) The Shoes of the Fisherman -- Alex North ( 1968 ) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -- Burt Bacharach ( 1969 ) 1970s Love Story -- Francis Lai ( 1970 ) Shaft -- Isaac Hayes ( 1971 ) The Godfather -- Nino Rota ( 1972 ) Jonathan Livingston Seagull -- Neil Diamond ( 1973 ) The Little Prince -- Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe ( 1974 ) Jaws -- John Williams ( 1975 ) A Star is Born -- Kenneth Ascher, Paul Williams ( 1976 ) Star Wars -- John Williams ( 1977 ) Midnight Express -- Giorgio Moroder ( 1978 ) Apocalypse Now -- Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola ( 1979 ) 1980s The Stunt Man -- Dominic Frontiere ( 1980 ) ( 1981 ) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial -- John Williams ( 1982 ) Flashdance -- Giorgio Moroder ( 1983 ) A Passage to India -- Maurice Jarre ( 1984 ) Out of Africa -- John Barry ( 1985 ) The Mission -- Ennio Morricone ( 1986 ) The Last Emperor -- David Byrne, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Cong Su ( 1987 ) Gorillas in the Mist -- Maurice Jarre ( 1988 ) The Little Mermaid -- Alan Menken ( 1989 ) 1990s The Sheltering Sky -- Richard Horowitz, Ryuichi Sakamoto ( 1990 ) Beauty and the Beast -- Alan Menken ( 1991 ) Aladdin -- Alan Menken ( 1992 ) Heaven & Earth -- Kitarō ( 1993 ) The Lion King -- Hans Zimmer ( 1994 ) A Walk in the Clouds -- Maurice Jarre ( 1995 ) The English Patient -- Gabriel Yared ( 1996 ) Titanic -- James Horner ( 1997 ) The Truman Show -- Burkhard Dallwitz, Philip Glass ( 1998 ) 1900 -- Ennio Morricone ( 1999 ) 2000s Gladiator -- Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer ( 2000 ) Moulin Rouge ! -- Craig Armstrong ( 2001 ) Frida -- Elliot Goldenthal ( 2002 ) The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King -- Howard Shore ( 2003 ) The Aviator -- Howard Shore ( 2004 ) Memoirs of a Geisha -- John Williams ( 2005 ) The Painted Veil -- Alexandre Desplat ( 2006 ) Atonement -- Dario Marianelli ( 2007 ) Slumdog Millionaire -- A.R. Rahman ( 2008 ) Up -- Michael Giacchino ( 2009 ) 2010s The Social Network -- Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross ( 2010 ) The Artist -- Ludovic Bource ( 2011 ) Life of Pi -- Mychael Danna ( 2012 ) All Is Lost -- Alex Ebert ( 2013 ) The Theory of Everything -- Jóhann Jóhannsson ( 2014 ) The Hateful Eight -- Ennio Morricone ( 2015 ) La La Land -- Justin Hurwitz ( 2016 ) The Shape of Water - Alexandre Desplat ( 2017 ) Nastro d'Argento Award for Best Score 1947 -- 1960 Renzo Rossellini ( 1947 ) Renzo Rossellini ( 1948 ) Alessandro Cicognini ( 1949 ) Roman Vlad ( 1950 ) Giovanni Fusco ( 1951 ) Mario Nascimbene ( 1952 ) Valentino Bucchi ( 1953 ) Mario Zafred ( 1954 ) Angelo Francesco Lavagnino ( 1955 ) Angelo Francesco Lavagnino ( 1956 ) Nino Rota ( 1957 ) Nino Rota ( 1958 ) Carlo Rustichelli ( 1959 ) Mario Nascimbene ( 1960 ) 1961 -- 1980 Giovanni Fusco ( 1961 ) Giorgio Gaslini ( 1962 ) Piero Piccioni ( 1963 ) Nino Rota ( 1964 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1965 ) Armando Trovajoli ( 1966 ) Carlo Rustichelli ( 1967 ) Mario Nascimbene ( 1968 ) Nino Rota ( 1969 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1970 ) Stelvio Cipriani ( 1971 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1972 ) Guido De Angelis / Maurizio De Angelis ( 1973 ) Tony Renis ( 1974 ) Giancarlo Chiaramello ( 1975 ) Adriano Celentano ( 1976 ) Fred Bongusto ( 1977 ) Armando Trovajoli ( 1978 ) Nino Rota ( 1979 ) Fred Bongusto ( 1980 ) 1981 -- 2000 Riz Ortolani ( 1981 ) Lucio Dalla / Fabio Liberatori ( 1982 ) Angelo Branduardi ( 1983 ) Riz Ortolani ( 1984 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1985 ) Tony Esposito ( 1986 ) Armando Trovajoli / Riz Ortolani / Giovanni Nuti ( 1987 ) Ennio Morricone ( 1988 ) Eugenio Bennato / Carlo D'Angiò ( 1989 ) Claudio Mattone ( 1990 ) Nicola Piovani ( 1991 ) Pino Daniele ( 1992 ) Manuel De Sica ( 1993 ) Federico De Robertis ( 1994 ) Luis Enríquez Bacalov ( 1995 ) Lucio Dalla ( 1996 ) Paolo Conte ( 1997 ) Nino D'Angelo ( 1998 ) Eugenio Bennato ( 1999 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2000 ) 2001 -- present Ennio Morricone ( 2001 ) Edoardo Bennato ( 2002 ) Nicola Piovani ( 2003 ) Paolo Fresu ( 2004 ) Banda Osiris ( 2005 ) Louis Siciliano / Roy Paci / Fabio Barovero / Simone Fabroni ( 2006 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2007 ) Paolo Buonvino ( 2008 ) Paolo Buonvino ( 2009 ) Rita Marcotulli ( 2010 ) Negramaro ( 2011 ) Franco Piersanti ( 2012 ) Ennio Morricone ( 2013 ) Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi ( 2014 ) Nicola Piovani ( 2015 ) Carlo Virzì ( 2016 ) Enzo Avitabile ( 2017 ) BNE : XX1022954 BNF : cb13899216x ( data ) GND : 12053584X ISNI : 0000 0001 2142 9170 LCCN : n83187920 MusicBrainz : d52ac009 - 4ed5 - 4d01 - 97d5 - 8280bb7dd460 NDL : 00912421 ICCU : IT ICCU CFIV 031517 SELIBR : 297692 SNAC : w6dn44t1 SUDOC : 027990028 VIAF : 88980189 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nino_Rota&oldid=839875659 '' Categories : 1911 births 1979 deaths 20th - century classical composers 20th - century Italian musicians BAFTA winners ( people ) Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Curtis Institute of Music alumni David di Donatello winners Golden Globe Award - winning musicians Grammy Award winners Italian film score composers Italian male classical composers Male film score composers Musicians from Milan Nastro d'Argento winners Deaths from coronary thrombosis Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Articles with hCards Interlanguage link template link number Articles with Encyclopædia Britannica links Find a Grave template with ID different from Wikidata Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with SBN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Azərbaycanca Български Brezhoneg Català Чӑвашла Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Ido Italiano עברית ქართული Latina Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan Polski Português Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська 中文 31 more Edit links This page was last edited on 6 May 2018, at 08 : 11. 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Question: who wrote the musical score for the godfather
Answer: Giovanni "Nino" Rota