The Godfather Waltz – Nino Rota (with sheet music)
Sheet Music download here.
Nino Rota
Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota), 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, earning 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.
Film scores
Nino Rota wrote the score for the film The Glass Mountain in 1949. Notable was the singing of Tito Gobbi, one of the world’s greatest baritones. The film won a number of awards.
In his entry on Rota in the 1988 edition of The Concise Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Composers and Musicians, music scholar Nicolas Slonimsky described him as “brilliant” and stated that his musical style:
… demonstrates a great facility and even felicity, with occasional daring excursions into dodecaphony. However his most durable compositions are related to his music for the cinema; he composed the sound tracks of a great number of films of the Italian director Federico Fellini covering the period from 1950 to 1979.
Furthermore, one of his compositional habits in particular came up for disapproving remarks: his penchant for pastiche of various past styles, which quite often turned into outright quotation of his own earlier music or even others’ music. One of the most noticed examples of such incorporation is his use of the Larghetto from Dvorák‘s Serenade for Strings in E major as a theme for a character in Fellini’s La Strada.
During the 1940s, Rota composed scores for more than 32 films, including Renato Castellani‘s Zaza (1944). His association with Fellini began with Lo sceicco bianco (The White Sheik) (1952), followed by I vitelloni (1953) and La strada (The Road) (1954). They continued to work together for decades, and Fellini recalled:
The most precious collaborator I have ever had, I say it straightaway and don’t even have to hesitate, was Nino Rota — between us, immediately, a complete, total, harmony … He had a geometric imagination, a musical approach worthy of celestial spheres. He thus had no need to see images from my movies. When I asked him about the melodies he had in mind to comment one sequence or another, I clearly realized he was not concerned with images at all. His world was inner, inside himself, and reality had no way to enter it.
The relationship between Fellini and Rota was so strong that even at Fellini’s funeral Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife, asked trumpeter Mauro Maur to play Rota’s Improvviso dell’Angelo in the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome.
Rota’s score for Fellini’s 8½ (1963) is often cited as one of the factors which makes the film cohesive. His score for Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits (1965) included a collaboration with Eugene Walter on the song, “Go Milk the Moon” (cut from the final version of the film), and they teamed again for the song “What Is a Youth?“, part of Rota’s score for Franco Zeffirelli‘s Romeo and Juliet.
The American Film Institute ranked Rota’s score for The Godfather #5 on their list of the greatest film scores. After being nominated for an Academy Award for this score, the nomination was later revoked when it was discovered that Rota recycled a theme from a previous score, one he wrote two decades prior for the film Fortunella and thus no longer considered original despite being played differently.
The nomination was then given to the film Sleuth , while Charlie Chaplin and two co-authors for their score featured in Limelight, a 21-year-old film that had just become eligible because it had not been screened in Los Angeles until 1972, went on to win the award. He went on to win an Oscar for his score for The Godfather Part II. His score for War and Peace was also nominated for the list. In all, Rota wrote scores to more than 150 films.
Browse in the Library:
Artist or Composer / Score name | Cover | List of Contents |
---|---|---|
Barber – Agnus Dei Op. 11 (full score transcribed for mixed Chorus with Organ or Piano Accompaniment) | ||
Barber – Samuel Barber The Composer And His Music (1992) by Barbara B. Heyman (Biography) | ||
Barber Violin Concerto (Violin and Piano sheet music) | ||
Barber Violin Concerto (Violin part sheet music) | ||
Barber_Violin_Concerto.mscz.mscz | ||
Barber, Samuel Cello Concerto (Cello Part) | ||
Barber, Samuel Sonata For Piano, Op.26 | ||
Barber, Samuel – Sure On This Shining Night for Piano and SATB | ||
Barber, Samuel – Adagio for Strings Op. 11 Agnus Dei (solo piano arr.) | ||
Barber, Samuel – Four Songs – Nocturne | ||
Barber, Samuel – Four Songs – A Nun takes the Veil | ||
Barber, Samuel – Four Songs The Secrets of the Old | ||
Barber, Samuel – Summer Music | ||
Barber, Samuel Adagio for Strings full score | Samuel Barber-Adagio for Strings full score | |
Barber, Samuel Adagio For Strings Samuel Barber (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Barber, Samuel Agnus Dei Adagio for strings op. 11 for mixed chorus | ||
Barber, Samuel Nocturne Op. 33 | ||
Barber, Samuel Op 26 Piano Sonata | ||
Barbra Streisand The way we were (piano) | Barbra Streisand The way we were piano | |
Barbra Streisand – Not While Im Around | ||
Barbra Streisand – Evergreen | ||
Barbra Streisand – Send In The Clowns | ||
Barbra Streisand – The Broadway album (Piano and voice) | Streisand, Barbra – The Broadway album (Piano and voice) | |
Barbra Streisand – The Way We Were | ||
Barbra Streisand Collection | Book Barbra Streisand Collection | |
Barbra Streisand Evergreen | Barbra Streisand Evergreen | |
Barbra Streisand Guilty – songbook | Barbra Streisand Guilty – songbook | |
Barbra Streisand Memories Songbook | Barbra Streisand Memories Songbook | |
Barbra Streisand My Name Is Barbra (Barbra Streisand) (Book) | ||
Barbra Streisand Somewhere From West Side Story | Barbra Streisand Somewhere From West Side Story | |
Barcarolle (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Barney Kessel – The Jazz Guitar Artistry Of Barney Kessel (14 original Guitar Solos) | Barney Kessel – The Jazz Guitar Artistry Of Barney Kessel (14 original Guitar Solos) | |
Barney Kessel – The Jazz Guitar Artistry Of Barney Kessel (Vol. 2 original Guitar Solos) | Barney Kessel – The Jazz Guitar Artistry Of Barney Kessel (Vol. 2 original Guitar Solos) | |
Barney Kessel Danny Boy Guitar with Tablature | ||
Barney Kessel Minor Mode | ||
Baroque Expressions Martha Mier from Bravo Book One (Piano Solos).mscz | ||
Baroque Guitar Sheet Music arr. by Frederick Noad Guitar Anthology,The Classical Guitar | Baroque Guitar Sheet Music arr. by Frederick Noad Guitar Anthology,The Classical Guitar | |
Baroque Keyboard Anthology Book 1 24 Works For Piano Or Keyboard by Robin Bigwood | Baroque Keyboard Anthology Book 1 24 Works For Piano Or Keyboard by Robin Bigwood | |
Barrelhouse And Boogie Piano by Eric Kriss | Barrelhouse And Boogie Piano by Eric Kriss | |
Barry Hanks – Rhythm Changes Solo Transcription | Barry Hanks – Rhythm Changes Solo Transcription | |
Barry Harris Approach to improvised lines & harmony | ||
Barry Harris Basics Summary Of Class Exploring the Diminished | ||
Barry Harris Donna Lee sheet music transcription | ||
Barry Harris Harmonic Method For Guitar, The | ||
Barry Harris Jazz Workshop Part 1 | ||
Barry Harris Jazz Workshop Part 2 | ||
Barry Harris Method Método IMPROVISACIÓN (Español-Spanish) | ||
Barry Harris On Green Dolphin Street sheet music transcription | ||
Barry Harris’ solo on “Woody n’You | Barry Harris Woody n’You | |
Barry Manilow – Can’t Smile Without You | ||
Barry Manilow – Copacabana (At the Copa) | ||
Barry Manilow – Copacabana | ||
Barry Manilow – Mandy | ||
Barry Manilow – Sheet Music Anthology | Barry Manilow – Sheet Music Anthology | |
BARRY WHITE – (THE COLLECTION) | BARRY WHITE – (THE COLLECTION) | |
Barry White – Loves Theme | ||
Bart Howard – Fly Me To The Moon Guitar and TABs (Jazz Standard) | Bart Howard – Fly Me To The Moon Guitar and TABs (Jazz Standard) | |
Bartok – For Children, Sz. 42 Complete 1 to 43 Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok – Improvisations op 20 Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok – Mikrokosmos (Books 1 to 6) Bela Bartok | Bartok – Mikrokosmos (1-6) sheet music | |
Bartok – Mikrokosmos Vol. 2 Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok – Mikrokosmos Vol. 4 Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok – Mikrokosmos Vol.1 Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok – Sonate For Piano Solo Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok 6 Danses populaires roumaines Bela Bartok | Bartok.-.6.Danses.populaires.roumaines | |
Bartok For Children Book 1 Based On Hungarian Folk Tunes Piano Solo | ||
Bartok For Children Book 2 after Slovakian Folk Tunes Piano Solo | Bartok For Children Book 2 after Slovakian Folk Tunes Piano Solo | |
Bartok Improvisations op. 20 Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok Piano Sonata Bela Bartok | ||
Bartok Ten Easy Pieces | ||
Basic Piano Library Piano Recital Book Level 1B | Basic Piano Library Piano Recital Book Level 1B | |
Bass Guitar For Dummies (eBook) | ||
Bass Standards (Classic Jazz Masters) Note for note transcriptions of jazz Bass classic performances | Bass Standards (Classic Jazz Masters) Note for note transcriptions of jazz Bass classic performances | |
Bastien – Piano Basics Level 1 Piano | ||
Bastien Piano Basics – Piano for the Young Beginner Primer A | ||
Bastien Piano Basics – Piano for the Young Beginner Primer B | ||
Bastien Piano Basics – Theory Level 2 | Bastien Piano Basics – Theory Level 2 | |
Bastien Piano Basics Level 3 | ||
Bastien Piano Basics Technic Primer Level for children | ||
Batman – Flowers Of The Past – Danny Elfman | Batman-Flowers-Of-The-Past-Danny-Elfman 1st page | |
Batman – Sonata In Darkness Michael Giacchino | Batman – Sonata In Darkness Michael Giacchino | |
Batman Begins – Hans Zimmer James Newton Howard Ramin Djawadi – Molossus | ||
Batman Returns – Birth Of A Penguin – Danny Elfman | Batman Returns – Birth Of A Penguin – Danny Elfman | |
Battlefield 1 – Homing Pigeon | Battlefield 1 – Homing Pigeon | |
Baywatch – Main Theme | ||
Be My Love (Nicholas Brodszky & Sammy Cahn) Jazz Piano Solo arr. sheet music | ||
Beach Boys Good Vibrations sheet music | ||
Beach Boys The Best Of Book | ||
Beach Boys, The – Guitar Anthology Series | Beach Boys, The – Guitar Anthology Series | |
Beato Book 4.0, The – A Creative Approach to Music Theory and Improvisation for Guitar and Other Instruments | ||
Beautiful (Christina Aguilera) | ||
Beautiful rain Soredemo Sekay | Beautiful rain Soredemo Sekay | |
Beauty And The Beast – Alan Menken from 1991 Disney film Piano Solo | ||
Beauty And The Beast – Main Theme – Alan Menken | ||
Beauty And The Beast (Disney) Piano Score | Beauty And The Beast (Disney) Piano Score | |
Bebo Valdes – El Manisero – Piano solo | El Manisero – Bebo Valdes | |
BEBOP – The Music and its Players (Thomas Owens) Book | ||
Bebop Exercise.mscz | ||
BeBop Jazz Piano – John Valerio – Book + MP3 audio tracks | Bebop piano sheet music book | |
Bebop Piano Legends Artist Transciptions For Piano | Bebop Piano Legends Artist Transciptions For Piano | |
Bebop Third Ear The Essential Listening Companion (Scott Yanow) Book | ||
Because – The Beatles (For String Quartet) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Beck – Everybodys gotta learn sometime – with lyrics | ||
Bee Gees It’s Easy To Play Bee Gees | Bee Gees It’s Easy To Play Bee Gees | |
Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love | ||
Bee Gees – Stayin Alive | ||
Bee Gees Anthology – complete songbook | The Bee Gees Guitar Songbook | |
Beegie Adair Fly Me To The Moon Jazz Standard Piano Solo | ||
Beegie Adair It Never Entered My Mind (Jazz Standard Transcription) | ||
Beethoven Ode To Joy (Jazz Version) | ||
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 1st Movement Arr. For 2 Pianos | ||
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 3rd Movement Arr. For 2 Pianos | ||
Beethoven Variations In E Flat Major Eroica Op. 35 Piano Solo arr. | ||
Beethoven L.V. – Piano Sonata 15 | ||
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 In E-Flat Major Emperor Op. 73 – Piano Solo (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Beethoven – 6 Sonatinas | ||
Beethoven – A First Book of Beethoven Easy Piano arr. favorite pieces by David Dutkanicz | Beethoven – A First Book of Beethoven Easy Piano arr. favorite pieces by David Dutkanicz | |
Beethoven – Choral Fantasy For Piano Choir And Orchestra Op. 80 (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Beethoven – Fantasia In G Minor. Op.77 (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Beethoven – Fur Elise | Beethoven – Fur Elise |