Biography and filmography

Nino Rota

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Photos

Movies (165)

Nino – A Film About Nino Rota

2026 · Self (archive footage)

Chelsea Zurflüh & Jonathan Tetelman @ Château de Neuschwanstein 2025

2025 · Original Music Composer

Stjepan Hauser plays Bach and Morricone @ Château de Neuschwanstein 2025

2025 · Music

New Year's Eve Concert 2022 With the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

2022 · Original Music Composer

OSN: Il ballo al Cinema con John Axelrod

2022 · Original Music Composer

The Morricone Duel: The Most Dangerous Concert Ever

2018 · Music

Just a Movie: On the Set of 'Mia Madre'

2016 · Music

Cinephile

2013 · Compositors

La visita meravigliosa: Viaggio in Italia sulle tracce di Nino Rota

2011

The Magic of Fellini

2002 · Self (archive footage)

Coursework

2000 · Original Music Composer

Red Market

1998 · Music

The Lion with the White Beard

1995 · Music

In morte di Federico Fellini

1994 · Music

A Magic Friend: The Maestro Nino Rota

1994 · Self (archive footage)

Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert

1993 · Self (archive footage)

The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980

1992 · Original Music Composer

The Godfather Part III

1990 · Additional Music

Chikan densha: Gusshori nurashite

1988 · Sound

Groper Train: Check With Your Finger

1987 · Music

Shin mibôjin geshuku: Magari anagari

1986 · Music

Groper Train: Interconnected

1986 · Music

Big Deal on Madonna Street 20 Years Later

1985 · Original Music Composer

Murad Kazhlayev. Rhythms and Years

1981 · Self

Hurricane

1979 · Original Music Composer

Orchestra Rehearsal

1979 · Original Music Composer

Death on the Nile

1978 · Original Music Composer

Contact

1978 · Music

Las alegres chicas de 'El Molino'

1977 · Music

Fellini's Casanova

1976 · Original Music Composer

Dear Michele

1976 · Original Music Composer

The Song Is Always With Us

1975 · Music

E il Casanova di Fellini?

1975 · Music

El Padrino II

1974 · Original Music Composer

The Abdication

1974 · Original Music Composer

The Secret Diary of 'Amarcord'

1974 · Self, Music

Amarcord

1973 · Original Music Composer

Sunset Sunrise

1973 · Music

Love and Anarchy

1973 · Original Music Composer

Roma

1972 · Original Music Composer

The Godfather

1972 · Original Music Composer

The Clowns

1970 · Original Music Composer

Waterloo

1970 · Original Music Composer

Satyricon

1969 · Original Music Composer

Fellini: A Director’s Notebook

1969 · Self, Original Music Composer

Spirits of the Dead

1968 · Original Music Composer

Romeo and Juliet

1968 · Original Music Composer

Toby Dammit

1968 · Music

The Taming of the Shrew

1967 · Original Music Composer

Much Ado About Nothing

1967 · Original Music Composer

Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand

1966 · Original Music Composer

Kiss the Other Sheik

1965 · Original Music Composer

Juliet of the Spirits

1965 · Original Music Composer

The Teacher from Vigevano

1963 · Original Music Composer

The Leopard

1963 · Original Music Composer, Music Arranger

8½

1963 · Original Music Composer

The Reluctant Saint

1962 · Original Music Composer

Boccaccio '70

1962 · Original Music Composer

The Temptation of Dr. Antonio

1962 · Original Music Composer

The Best of Enemies

1961 · Original Music Composer

The Brigand

1961 · Original Music Composer

Ghosts of Rome

1961 · Original Music Composer

Rocco and His Brothers

1960 · Original Music Composer

Purple Noon

1960 · Original Music Composer

La Dolce Vita

1960 · Original Music Composer

The Great War

1959 · Original Music Composer

Il Pranzo di Natale di Mario Soldati

1958 · Original Music Composer

The Law Is the Law

1958 · Original Music Composer

Piece of the Sky

1958 · Original Music Composer

The Italians They Are Crazy

1958 · Music

Fortunella

1958 · Original Music Composer

City at Night

1958 · Original Music Composer

Doctor and the Healer

1957 · Original Music Composer

White Nights

1957 · Original Music Composer

This Angry Age

1957 · Original Music Composer

Nights of Cabiria

1957 · Original Music Composer

The Most Wonderful Moment

1957 · Original Music Composer

Italia piccola

1957 · Music

The House of Intrigue

1956 · Original Music Composer

War and Peace

1956 · Original Music Composer

Io piaccio

1955 · Music

It Happened in the Penitentiary

1955 · Original Music Composer

The Swindle

1955 · Original Music Composer

La bella di Roma

1955 · Original Music Composer

A Hero of Our Times

1955 · Original Music Composer

Scampolo 53

1955 · Music

Divisione Folgore

1954 · Original Music Composer

Loves of Three Queens

1954 · Music

The Two Orphans

1954 · Original Music Composer

La Strada

1954 · Original Music Composer

Modern Virgin

1954 · Original Music Composer

Mambo

1954 · Original Music Composer

Passionately

1954 · Original Music Composer

Submarine Attack

1954 · Original Music Composer

100 Years of Love

1954 · Original Music Composer

The Stranger's Hand

1954 · Music

Star of India

1954 · Music

The Hunt

1953 · Compositor

Lo scocciatore

1953 · Original Music Composer

The Ship of Condemned Women

1953 · Original Music Composer

Easy Years

1953 · Original Music Composer

Gli uomini, che mascalzoni!

1953 · Music

I Vitelloni

1953 · Original Music Composer

Riscatto - Tu sei il mio giudice

1953 · Original Music Composer

The Wild Oat

1953 · Original Music Composer

Jolanda, the Daughter of the Black Corsair

1953 · Original Music Composer

Good Folk's Sunday

1953 · Original Music Composer

Hell Raiders of the Deep

1953 · Original Music Composer