Rota Nino, *3 December 1911 Milan, †10 April 1979 Rome, Italian composer. His first music teacher was his mother, a pianist and daughter of the composer Giovanni Rinaldi (1840–1895). Rota began composing at the age of 8, and his oratorio L’infanzia di S. Giovanni Battista, performed in 1923, gained him the reputation of a child prodigy; from that year, he studied at the conservatory in Milan, in 1925-26, he studied composition privately with I. Pizzetti and in 1926-29 with A. Casella at the Accademia di S. Cecilia in Rome; thanks to the support of A. Toscanini, in 1931-32, continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, composition with R. Scalero and conducting with F. Reiner. From 1939, he taught at the Bari Conservatory and from 1950 to 1977, he was its director. In 1959, he received the Premio Italia for the radio opera La notte di un nevrastenico.
Rota was a strong traditionalist: he composed tonal and melodic music, not exceeding the neoclassicism of A. Casella. He absorbed various influences – from A. Dvořák to American popular music, which he learned during his studies in the United States, but he had an excellent technique and was able to shape a style with some individual characteristics. He became famous primarily as a creator of film music, he collaborated with many outstanding directors, most fruitfully with F. Fellini, whose music he was able to give a unique emotional atmosphere to his films. His predilection for writing action-related music also allowed him to achieve success in the field of opera music, especially in the genre of comic and fairy-tale opera. The peculiarity of Rota’s creative approach was the reuse of earlier compositions to an extent unprecedented since the Baroque period. In Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, a farce full of musical humour, successfully revived in Lyon in 1999, motifs from several films appear, and in the last opera Napoli milionaria, which is a kind of testament of the composer, from as many as nine. Rota’s symphonic and instrumental music, considered completely anachronistic in the period after World War II, has been receiving more favourable reviews in recent years.
Literature: P.M. De Santi La musica di Nino Rota, Bari 1983; Nino Rota compositore del nostro tempo, ed. D. Fabris, Bari 1987; J.M. Latorre Nino Rota. La imagen de la musica, Barcelona 1989; La Filmografia di Nino Rota, ed. F. Borin, Florence 1999; Fra cinema e musica del Novecento. Il caso Rota dai documenti, ed. F. Lombardi, Florence 2000.
Instrumental:
orchestra:
3 Symphonies — No. 1 1939, No. 2 1941 2nd version 1975, No. 3 1957
Balli, suite, 1932
Sinfonia sopra una canzone d’amore 1947, 2nd version 1972
Variazioni e fuga sul nome di Bach 1950
Variazioni sopra un tema gioviale 1953
Concerto festivo 1961
Guardando il Fujiyama 1976
Concerto per archi 1965, 2nd version 1977
for piano and orchestra:
Concerto in C 1960
Concerto-Soirée 1962
Concerto in E “Piccolo mondo antico ”1972
Fantasia sopra 12 note del “Don Giovanni” di Mozart 1960
concertos with orchestra:
for harp, 1947
for trombone, 1966
2 for cello — I 1972, II 1973
For bassoon, 1977
Divertimento concertante for string bass and orchestra, 1973
chamber:
Quintet for flute, oboe, alto, cello and harp, 1935
Piccola offerta musicale for wind quintet, 1943
String Quartet 1948, 2nd version 1954
Trio for flute, violin and piano, 1958
Nonet 1958, 2nd version 1976
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, 1973
sonatas:
for alto and piano, 1935, 2nd version 1970
for violin and piano, 1937
for flute and harp, 1937
solo:
Sarabanda e toccata for harp 1945
15 preludes for piano, 1964
Vocal and vocal-instrumental:
pieces for a cappella choir and choir with organ
songs for voice and piano
Cantico in memoria di Alfredo Casella for voice, trumpet, guitar and organ, 1947, 2nd version 1972
Rabelaisiana for voice and orchestra, 1977
oratories:
L’infanzia di S. Giovanni Battista 1922
Mysterium 1962
La vita di Maria 1970
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cantata Roma capomunni for bass, choir and orchestra, 1977
Scenic:
operas:
Il Principe Porcaro, a libretto by the composer based on H.Ch. Andersen, 1926, version with chamber orchestra, arranged by N. Scardicchio, staged in Venice 2003
Ariodante, libretto E. Trucchi based on L. Ariosto, 1938–41, staged in Parma 1942
Torquemada, libretto by V. Hugo, 1943, staged in Naples 1976
Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, libretto by the composer and Ernest Rota based on E. Labiche, 1945–55, staged in Palermo 1955
Lo scoiattolo in gamba, libretto E. de Filippo, 1959, staged in Bari 1973
Aladino e la lampada magica, libretto V. Verginelli based on One Thousand and One Nights, 1965, staged in Naples 1968
La visita meravigliosa, libretto by the composer based on H.G. Wells, 1969, staged in Palermo 1970
Napoli milionaria, libretto E. de Filippo, 1973–77, staged in Spoleto 1977
radio operas:
I due timidi, libretto S. Cechi d’Amico, performed in RAI 1950, staged in Londyn 1952
La notte di un nevrastenico, libretto R. Bacchelli, 1959, performed in RAI 1959, staged in Milan 1960
ballets:
Rappresentazione di Adamo ed Eva 1957, staged in Perugia 1957
La Strada (with music to La Strada and other films by F. Fellini), 1966, staged in Milan 1966
Aci e Galatea based on Ovid, 1971, staged in Rome 1971
Le Molière imaginaire, libretto M. Béjart, 1976, staged in Paris 1976
Dichterliebe—Amore di Poeta, libretto M. Béjart based on H. Heine and R. Schumann, 1978, staged in Brussels 1978
film music:
around 150 positions, including:
Napoli milionaria, directed by E. de Filippo, 1950
War and Peace, directed by K. Vidor, 1956
Rocco and His Brothers 1960 and The Leopard 1963, directed by L. Visconti
Romeo and Juliet, directed by F. Zeffirelli, 1966
Waterloo, directed by S. Bondarczuk, 1969
The Godfather part 1 1972, part 2 1974, directed by F. Coppola
16 films directed by F. Fellini, including La Strada 1954, Nights of Cabiria 1957, La Dolce Vita 1960, Otto E Mezzo 1963, Satyricon 1969, Rome 1971, Amarcord 1975, Prova d’orchestra 1979
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theatre music
