Nino Rota

Like other great film composers, Nino Rota found ways of creating new hybrid sounds by borrowing stylistic and instrumental devices from a variety of existing genres. Though he did some work writing symphonies and operas, this Italian is probably best known for his scores for the first two Godfather movies and for his longtime collaboration with director Federico Fellini. Enhancing films such as 8 1/2, Amarcord, and La Dolce Vita, Rota provided sweeping string arrangements alongside his own brand of lightly swinging small combo jazz. Even when removed from its original context and heard in the form of brief, isolated cues, Rota's music retains its singular presence as it alternates between romantic, anxious, carefree, and sentimental moods.