Nino Rota
Real name Giovanni Rota
Life 4 December 1911 – 10 April 1979
Occupation
-
• composer
• conductor
• pianist
• film score composer
• actor
• screenwriter
Instrument
-
• piano
Place of birth Milan
Country of birth Italy
Citizenship
-
• Italy
• Kingdom of Italy
Website: Visit site
TodoTango: Link
Nino Rota (1911–1979) was an Italian composer and conductor, born into a family of musicians in Milan. He studied under Giacomo Orefice and Ildebrando Pizzetti in his youth before moving to Rome, where he completed his training with Alfredo Casella at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929.
Already recognized as an enfant prodige, Rota composed his first oratorio, L’infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, in 1923, and his lyrical comedy Il Principe Porcaro in 1926. Both were early signs of a prolific career across multiple musical genres.
Education
Between 1930 and 1932, Rota studied in the United States at the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia, under Rosario Scalero (composition) and Fritz Reiner (orchestra). Upon returning to Italy, he earned a degree in literature from the University of Milan. In 1937, he began teaching and went on to serve as the director of the Bari Conservatory from 1950 until his death in 1979.
Operas and Ballets
His operatic works include:
Ariodante (Parma, 1942)
Torquemada (1943)
Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (Palermo, 1955)
I due timidi (RAI, 1950; London, 1953)
La notte di un neurastenico (Premio Italia, 1959; La Scala, 1960)
Lo scoiattolo in gamba (Venice, 1959)
Aladino e la lampada magica (Naples, 1968)
La visita meravigliosa (Palermo, 1970)
Napoli milionaria (Spoleto Festival, 1977)
His ballets include:
La rappresentazione di Adamo ed Eva (Perugia, 1957)
La Strada (La Scala, 1965)
Aci e Galatea (Rome, 1971)
Le Molière Imaginaire (Paris & Brussels, 1976)
Amor di poeta (Brussels, 1978, choreographed by Maurice Béjart)
Film Scores
Rota is most widely known for his film scores. He was a close collaborator of Federico Fellini, writing music for all his films from The White Sheik (1952) to Orchestra Rehearsal (1979). His filmography also includes work with:
Francis Ford Coppola — including The Godfather Part II, which earned him an Oscar for Best Original Score
He also composed extensively for theatre productions by Visconti, Zeffirelli, and de Filippo.
Legacy
In 1995, the Nino Rota Foundation was established at Fondazione Cini in Venice, which also manages the Nino Rota Digital Archive — a searchable resource housing letters, images, press material, and reviews related to Rota's career.
Sources
ninorota.com – Official Nino Rota site Wikipedia – Nino Rota
Orchestras
No known group memberships.
Recordings
No recordings found.
Opus
| Title | Genre | Alt. title | Comp. Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amor en voz baja | Tango | Speak softly love |