Nino Rota, Federico Fellini, and the Making of an Italian Cinematic Folk Opera Amarcord - Softcover

Sciannameo, Franco

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0773408088 ISBN 13: 9780773408081

Publisher: Em Texts, 2005

Synopsis

Federico Fellini entered the pantheon of 20th-Century artists for his path-breaking films like, La dolce vita (1960) and Otto e mezzo (1963). However, it was with Amarcord (1973), that Fellini achieved universal fame. That celebration of youth and memory transcends all barriers of ethnic origin and national belonging by simply appealing to human commonalities. Similarly, Nino Rota's music, an integral part of this film, eludes cultural boundaries by blending learned and popular musical styles - as in a folk-opera in which stories or episodes are expressed through song and dance representative of everyday life. By juxtaposing music and images, their own creative personae and their youth as it relates to our collective memories, Fellini and Rota made this film about "remembering youth" an unforgettable experience for generations of viewers and listeners. This monograph is of interest to scholars of music, cinema, and cultural studies.

About this title

Review

"The story of Nino Rota and Federico Fellini may well come to be understood as the model for the future of classical composers and their music, rather than as a glamorous anomaly. A composer trained in the most serene temples of classicized art, Rota never lost his way with a great tune or set aside his touch with a popular texture. While his muse may have become the cinema, mediated best through his thirty year association with Fellini, his oeuvre spans all forms of concert music and he remained resolutely and securely in the conservatory world. Franco Sciannameo tells this story gracefully and with charming erudition. He weaves disparate elements of an extremely useful and evocative scenic synopsis of the music of Amarcord, a comprehensive bibliography, a profile of the composer, a table of Rota's works throughout the Fellini period, and even a lagniappe of some delightful but previously unknown bell music by Rota, connecting all by means of a discerning investigation of how Rota and Fellini together found an ideal synthesis of music and film, seen through the lens of one of their greatest collaborations, Amarcord. Sciannameo's translation of Fellini's eulogy to Rota is a particularly touching, and telling, inclusion... The lover of music will find much to think about in this monograph and the lover of film will be delighted throughout. In presenting what Fellini called "the miracles of Nino Rota," Sciannameo succeeds in conveying a deep feeling of tenderness as well." - (from the Foreword) Alan Fletcher, Professor and Head, School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University"

Edition details

• Publisher: Em Texts
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773408088
• ISBN 13: 9780773408081
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 114