Nino Rota (December 3, 1911 in Milan. Italy)

Famed for his inspired work with director Federico Fellini, Nino Rota was one of the most prolific and acclaimed film composers of his era, with a list of soundtrack credits ranging from La Dolce Vita to Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.

Born December 3, 1911 in Milan. Italy, Rota was a child prodigy who had already written an opera and an oratorio prior to his fifteenth birthday;

he subsequently studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia as well as the Liceo Musicale in Bari, where from 1950 to 1978 he served as director.

In 1933 Rota first entered the Italian film industry, scoring the “white telephone” romances and musicals prevalent during the era;

before 1950, he composed the music for some 30 features, as well as the operas Torquemada and The Florentine Straw Hat.

1976   Fellini's Casanova | Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976)
1974   The Godfather: Part II (1974)
1974   Amarcord (1974)
1972   The Godfather (1972)
1969   Fellini Satyricon (1969)
1968   Romeo and Juliet (1968)
1963   8½ (1963)
1960   Rocco and His Brothers | Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)
1960   La Dolce vita (1960)
1959   The Great War - La grande guerra (1959)
1957   White Nights - Le notti bianche (1957)
1954   La Strada (1954)
1952   The White Sheik - Lo Sceicco bianco (1952)