# Piero Piccioni

Piero Piccioni (Italian pronunciation:; December 6, 1921 – July 23, 2004) was an Italian film score composer.
A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on radio in 1938 with his "013" Big Band, to return on air only after the liberation of Italy in 1944. "013" was the first Italian jazz band to be broadcast in Italy after the fall of Fascism.

## Early life

Piero Piccioni was born in Turin, Piedmont. His mother's maiden name was Marengo, hence his pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957.
When he was growing up, his father Attilio Piccioni (a prominent member of the Italian Christian Democratic Party with the post-war Italian government), would frequently take him to hear concerts at the EIAR Radio Studios in Florence. Having listened to jazz throughout his childhood (he loved the music of Art Tatum and Charlie Parker) and attending studies at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, Piero Piccioni became a musician.

## Career

Piccioni made his radio debut at 17 with his 013 Big Band in 1938, but only returned on air after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His 013 was the first Italian jazz band to be broadcast in Italy after the fall of Fascism.
He was influenced in the use of jazz by 20th century classical composers and American films. Directors he liked included Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and John Ford. Additionally, he admired film score composer Alex North. He began writing songs of his own and was soon able to get some of his works published by Carisch editions.
Piero Piccioni came into contact with the movie world in Rome during the fifties, when he was a practicing lawyer securing movie rights for Italian producers such as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called Piccioni to score a documentary film directed by Luigi Polidoro, one of his apprentices. Piccioni's first score for a feature film was Gianni Franciolini's Il mondo le condanna (1952). He consequently changed his lawyer's "toga" for a conductor's baton. He developed close-knit working relationships with directors Francesco Rosi and Alberto Sordi, and established strong personal and professional bonds with them.
Many directors sought Piero Piccioni to score the soundtracks for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Lina Wertmuller, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and others.
His film scores include Il bell'Antonio, Contempt, The 10th Victim, More Than a Miracle, The Deserter, The Light at the Edge of the World, Puppet on a Chain, Lucky Luciano, Camille 2000, The Nun and the Devil, Swept Away, Christ Stopped at Eboli, Fighting Back, and many Alberto Sordi movies. He is credited with over 300 soundtracks and compositions for radio, television, ballets and orchestra. Among his favorite vocalists were female soul singer Shawn Robinson and Edinburgh-born Lydia MacDonald.

## Awards and legacy

Piccioni won many prestigious prizes including the David di Donatello Award for the movie Swept Away (1975), Nastro d'argento Award for the movie Salvatore Giuliano by Francesco Rosi (1963), Prix International Lumière 1991, Anna Magnani Award 1975 and Vittorio De Sica Award 1979.
His song "Traffic Boom" was featured as the song for the fictional Logjammin' movie-within-a-movie in The Big Lebowski.
The song "It's Possible" from "Il Dio Sotto la Pelle" was sampled by Hollywood JB for DJ Khaled's "Jermaine's Interlude" on his Major Key album featuring J Cole, as well as on Isaiah Rashad's Headshots (4r da Locals), and Lucki's "Waiting On". Many other samples have been used from his vast body of work in recent years, especially from Camille 3000, Amore Mio Aiutami, Il Dio Sotto la Pelle, Anna Karenina (TV series) and Colpo Rovente, among others.
His music is compiled into playlists in all platforms and is extensively sampled by the lo-fi community.
In 1953 Piccioni was falsely implicated in the Montesi scandal, after a conspiracy designed to force the resignation of his father Attilio from the highest positions in the government (he was Foreign minister at the time). On dubious information, journalists spun fabrications that he had been present, close to a villa near a beach where a girl was found drowned, allegedly after a party (which in fact never took place). Piccioni was acquitted in Venice in 1957 together with others after lengthy trials and tribulations, and his accusers were eventually sentenced for slander and calumny. To this day this case is known in Italy as one of the first events in post war history where 'la macchina del fango' or the mud machine' was used as a means for political régime change.

## Death

Piccioni died in Rome on July 23, 2004 from unknown causes.

## Selected filmography

| Year | Film | Directed by | Singles | Latest CD / Digital Release |
| 1954 | The Beach | Alberto Lattuada | | |
| 1957 | The Woman Who Came from the Sea | Francesco De Robertis | | Saimel / 3995610 / 2005 |
| 1957 | Pretty But Poor | Dino Risi | | |
| 1957 | Guendalina | Alberto Lattuada | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1958 | March's Child | Antonio Pietrangeli | | CAM / Digital / 2024 |
| 1958 | Tempest | Alberto Lattuada | | Legend / CD 33 DLX / 2010 |
| 1959 | Boys of the Parioli | Sergio Corbucci | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1959 | Vacations in Majorca | Giorgio Bianchi | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1959 | The Big Night | Mauro Bolognini | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1960 | The Employee | Gianni Puccini | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1960 | Il bell'Antonio | Mauro Bolognini | | Dagored / RED183 / 2008 |
| 1960 | World By Night | Luigi Vanzi | | Camille 3000 / CAM3K-012-MDN / 2018 |
| 1960 | Adua and Her Friends | Antonio Pietrangeli | | Cinevox / CD MDF 359 / 2005 |
| 1960 | Sweet Deceptions | Alberto Lattuada | | Saimel / 3998983 / 2017 |
| 1960 | From a Roman Balcony | Mauro Bolognini | | CAM / Digital / 2024 |
| 1960 | The Hunchback of Rome | Carlo Lizzani | | |
| 1960 | The Swedes | Gian Luigi Polidoro | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1961 | The Assassin | Elio Petri | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1961 | Youth At Night | Mario Sequi | | CAM / Digital / 2024 |
| 1961 | La Viaccia | Mauro Bolognini | | Saimel / 3998965 / 2016 |
| 1961 | Destination Fury | Giorgio Bianchi | | |
| 1961 | World by Night No. 2 | Gianni Proia | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1961 | Duel of the Titans | Sergio Corbucci | | |
| 1961 | The Two Marshals | Sergio Corbucci | | |
| 1962 | Careless | Mauro Bolognini | CAM CA 2399: Tango Per Flicorno / Musica Del Mare | GDM / GDM 4329 / 2014 |
| 1962 | Violent Life | Paolo Heusch, Brunello Rondi | | CAM / CSE 106 / 1993 |
| 1962 | Totò Diabolicus | Steno | | Digitmovies / DGST027 / 2017 |
| 1962 | The Slave | Sergio Corbucci | | |
| 1962 | Salvatore Giuliano | Francesco Rosi | | GDM / GDM 4209 / 2011 |
| 1962 | The Captive City | Joseph Anthony | | |
| 1962 | La commare secca | Bernardo Bertolucci | | |
| 1963 | The Girl from Parma | Antonio Pietrangeli | | CAM / Digital / 2023 |
| 1963 | The Shortest Day | Sergio Corbucci | | |
| 1963 | The Attic | Gianni Puccini | | Beat Records / BCM 9519 / 2013 |
| 1963 | To Bed or Not to Bed | Gian Luigi Polidoro | | CAM / Digital / 2023 |
| 1963 | Il demonio | Brunello Rondi | | Beat Records / BCM 9520 / 2013 |
| 1963 | Il Boom | Vittorio De Sica | CAM CA 2505: Organ Grinders Boom / Samba Della Ruota | Think! Records / THCD-144 / 2010 |
| 1963 | Hands over the City | Francesco Rosi | | GDM / GDM 4209 / 2011 |
| 1963 | A Sentimental Attempt | Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa | | |
| 1963 | The Terrorist | Gianfranco De Bosio | | |
| 1963 | Contempt (Italy/Spain version) | Jean-Luc Godard | | Digitmovies / CDDM002 / 2003 |
| 1964 | Tre per una rapina | Gianni Bongioanni | | |
| 1964 | Three Nights of Love | Renato Castellani, Luigi Comencini, Franco Rossi | | CAM / CSE 112 / 1993 |
| 1964 | Il disco volante | Tinto Brass | | CAM / Digital / 2023 |
| 1964 | Minnesota Clay | Sergio Corbucci | | GDM / CD CLUB 7112 / 2012 |
| 1965 | La fuga | Paolo Spinola | | |
| 1965 | The Moment of Truth | Francesco Rosi | | |
| 1965 | The Three Faces | Michelangelo Antonioni, Mauro Bolognini, Franco Indovina | | CAM / Digital / 2024 |
| 1965 | The Captain's Daughter | Leonardo Cortese | | Kronos Records / KRONCD006 / 2011 |
| 1965 | Agent 077: From the Orient with Fury | Sergio Grieco | | |
| 1965 | I Knew Her Well | Antonio Pietrangeli | | Beat Records / BCM 9521 / 2013 |
| 1965 | The 10th Victim | Elio Petri | | Easy Tempo / 1998 |
| 1966 | Fumo di Londra | Alberto Sordi | | CF Soundtracks / CFS002 / 2019 |
| 1966 | Pardon, Are You For or Against? | Alberto Sordi | | Digitmovies / CDDM287 / 2017 |
| 1967 | The Witches | Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi, Vittorio De Sica | | Digitmovies / CDDM296 / 2018 |
| 1967 | I Married You for Fun | Luciano Salce | | Verita Note / VQCD-10194 / 2010 |
| 1967 | The Stranger | Luchino Visconti | | Verita Note / VQCD-10063 / 2008 |
| 1967 | More Than a Miracle | Francesco Rosi | | Film Score Monthly / FSM Vol. 14 No. 7 / 2011 |
| 1967 | An Italian in America | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1968 | The Young Tigers | Antonio Leonviola | | Beat Records / ?????? / 2010 |
| 1968 | Ballad of a Bounty Hunter | Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent | | |
| 1968 | OSS 117 - Double Agent | Jean-Pierre Desagnat, Renzo Cerrato, André Hunebelle | | |
| 1968 | If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death | Gianfranco Parolini | | Verita Note / VQCD-10056 / 2007 |
| 1968 | Bora Bora | Ugo Liberatore | | Cinevox / CD OST-PK 022 / 2016 |
| 1968 | L'Italia vista dal cielo: Emila Romagna e Marche | Folco Quilici | | |
| 1968 | Be Sick... It's Free | Luigi Zampa | | Beat Records / BCM 9567 / 2015 |
| 1969 | Temptation | Lamberto Benvenuti | | Kronos Records / KRONCD006 / 2011 |
| 1969 | Naked England | Vittorio De Sisti | | Quartet records / QR486 / 2022 |
| 1969 | Kenner | Steve Sekely | | Film Score Monthly / FSM Vol. 14 No. 7 / 2011 |
| 1969 | Camille 2000 | Radley Metzger | | Beat Records / BCM 9576 / 2016 |
| 1969 | Youth March | Franco Rossi | | Easy Tempo / ET 905 CD /1998 |
| 1969 | Help Me, My Love | Alberto Sordi | | Beat Records / BCM9606 / 2022 |
| 1969 | Oh, Grandmother's Dead | Mario Monicelli | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1969 | Love Me, Love My Wife | Enzo Battaglia | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1969 | Check to the Queen | Pasquale Festa Campanile | | Cinevox / CDOST-PK 040 / 2020 |
| 1969 | Playgirl '70 | Federico Chentrens | | Verita Note / VQCD-10178 / 2010 |
| 1969 | The Others | Alessandro Fallay | | Beat Records / BCM 9523 / 2013 |
| 1969 | Il Prof. Dott. Guido Tersilli, primario della clinica Villa Celeste, convenzionata con le mutue | Luciano Salce | | GDM / GDM 2042 / 2004 |
| 1970 | Let's Have a Riot | Luigi Zampa | | Avanz Records / SP/CR-20015 / 1997 |
| 1970 | The Syndicate: A Death in the Family | Piero Zuffi | | Quartet Records / QR472 / 2021 |
| 1970 | Stop the world... I want to get off! | Giancarlo Cobelli | | Beat Records / BCM 9574 / 2016 |
| 1970 | The President of Borgorosso Football Club | Luigi Filippo D'Amico | | |
| 1970 | So Long Gulliver | Carlo Tuzii | | Saimel / 3996810 / 2005 |
| 1970 | The Deserter | Burt Kennedy | | Legend / CD32DLX / 2010 |
| 1970 | Le coppie (Man and Wife) | Mario Monicelli, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio De Sica | | |
| 1970 | Many Wars Ago | Francesco Rosi | | |
| 1971 | Marta | José Antonio Nieves Conde | | Chris' Soundtrack Corner / CSC 041 / 2023 |
| 1971 | In the Eye of the Hurricane | José María Forqué | | CAM / Digital / 2024 |
| 1971 | Devil's Ransom | Piero Sciumè | | Saimel / 3996810 / 2005 |
| 1971 | The Light at the Edge of the World | Kevin Billington | | Quartet Records / QR176 / 2014 |
| 1971 | Puppet on a Chain | Geoffrey Reeve | | Silva Screen / SILCD1519 / 2017 |
| 1971 | In the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Colt | Mario Bianchi | | |
| 1971 | A Girl in Australia | Luigi Zampa | | GDM / CD CLUB 7024 / 2004 |
| 1971 | Seven Murders for Scotland Yard | José Luis Madrid | | Beat Records / CDCR 29 / 1996 |
| 1972 | The Seduction of Mimi | Lina Wertmüller | | Cinevox / CD MDF 628 / 2008 |
| 1972 | The Mattei Affair | Francesco Rosi | | GDM / GDM 4209 / 2011 |
| 1972 | Watch Out Gringo! Sabata Will Return | Alfonso Balcázar, Pedro L. Ramirez | | |
| 1972 | The Scientific Cardplayer | Luigi Comencini | | Quartet Records / QR529 / 2023 |
| 1972 | The Monk | Ado Kyrou | | Digitmovies / CDDM191 / 2011 |
| 1973 | A Colt In The Hand Of The Devil | Gianfranco Baldanello | | |
| 1973 | The Nun and the Devil | Domenico Paolella | | Digitmovies / CDDM015 / 2004 |
| 1973 | The Lonely Woman | Francisco Rovira Beleta | | Saimel / 3995510 / 2004 |
| 1973 | My Brother Anastasia | Steno | | Beat Records / BCM9597 / 2022 |
| 1973 | Lucky Luciano | Francesco Rosi | Epic ECPB-274: Underground Sketches | |
| 1973 | A Way Of Being A Woman | Pier Ludovico Pavoni | | Saimel / 3995510 / 2004 |
| 1973 | Story of a Cloistered Nun | Fernando Cerchio | | Digitmovies / CDDM015 / 2004 |
| 1973 | Polvere di stelle | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1974 | God Under the Skin | Carlo Alberto Pinelli, Folco Quilici | | Quartet Records / QR471 / 2021 |
| 1974 | All Screwed Up | Lina Wertmüller | Traffic Boom | Beat Records / CDCR 113 / 2011 |
| 1974 | Appassionata | Gianluigi Calderone | Cinevox MDF 051: Strano Mercoledi' 2 / La Chatte | Quartet Records / QRSCE028 / 2011 |
| 1974 | Kidnap | Giovanni Fago | | Digitmovies / CDDM170 / 2010 |
| 1974 | The Kiss | Mario Lanfranchi | | Beat Records / CDCR 30 / 1995 |
| 1974 | Swept Away | Lina Wertmüller | | Beat Records / DDJ016 / 2012 |
| 1974 | While There's War There's Hope | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1975 | Dawn of Man | Folco Quilici | | Beat Records / BCM 9539 / 2014 |
| 1975 | City and Countryside | Vittorio Marchetti | | |
| 1976 | Dog's Heart | Alberto Lattuada | | Beat Records / BCM9616 / 2024 |
| 1976 | Illustrious Corpses | Francesco Rosi | | GDM / CD CLUB 7013 / 2002 |
| 1976 | Chi dice donna dice donna | Tonino Cervi | | CAM / Digital / 2023 |
| 1976 | Il comune senso del pudore | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1977 | This Is the Night | Carlo Di Carlo | | CAM / Digital / 2022 |
| 1978 | Professor Kranz tedesco di Germania | Luciano Salce | | Beat Records / DDJ010 / 2011 |
| 1978 | The Witness | Jean-Pierre Mocky | | Music Box Records / MBR-052 / 2014 |
| 1978 | Where Are You Going on Holiday? | Mauro Bolognini, Luciano Salce, Alberto Sordi | | GDM / CD CLUB 7079 / 2010 |
| 1979 | Fear Over the World | Domenico Campana | | CAM / Digital Only / 2024 |
| 1979 | Christ Stopped at Eboli | Francesco Rosi | CAM AMP 221: Cristo Si E' Fermato A Eboli (3:06) / Cristo Si E' Fermato A Eboli (2:33) | |
| 1979 | Upcoming… Marsch! | Luciano Salce | | CAM / Digital Only / 2022 |
| 1980 | The Precarious Bank Teller | Luciano Salce | | |
| 1980 | Catherine and I | Luciano Salce | | CAM / Digital Only / 2022 |
| 1981 | Three Brothers | Francesco Rosi | | Quartet Records / QR528 / 2023 |
| 1982 | Fighting Back | Lewis Teague | | Quartet Records / QR230 / 2016 |
| 1982 | I Know That You Know That I Know | Alberto Sordi | | GDM / CD CLUB 7075 / 2009 |
| 1982 | Journey with Papa | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1984 | Everybody in Jail | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1985 | I Am an ESP | Sergio Corbucci | | Digitmovies / CDDM288 / 2018 |
| 1985 | Quo Vadis? | Franco Rossi | | |
| 1987 | Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Francesco Rosi | | Virgin / CDV 2441 / 1987 |
| 1987 | A Taxi Driver in New York | Alberto Sordi | | Digitmovies / CDDM278 / 2016 |
| 1990 | L'avaro | Tonino Cervi | | |
| 1992 | Acquitted for Having Committed the Deed | Alberto Sordi | | |
| 1998 | Logjammin' | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | | |
| 1998 | Forbidden Encounters | Alberto Sordi | | RCA / 74321-64058-2 / 1998 |