Alessandro Alessandroni
Pictured next to Nora Orlandi (1955)
Pictured next to Nora Orlandi (1955)
Background information
Born(1925-03-18)18 March 1925
Rome, Italy
Died26 March 2017(2017-03-26) (aged 92)
Swakopmund, Namibia [1]
GenresFilm score
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)Guitar, mandolin, sitar, accordion, piano, whistling, mandolincello
Years active1936–2017

Alessandro Alessandroni (18 March 1925 – 26 March 2017) was an Italian musician and composer. He played multiple instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, mandolincello, sitar, accordion and piano, composed more than 40 film scores and countless library music, and was renowned for his whistling technique.[2]

Biography

Alessandroni collaborated with his childhood friend Ennio Morricone on a number of soundtracks for Spaghetti Westerns. Morricone's orchestration often calls for an unusual combination of instruments, voices, and whistling. Alessandroni's twangy guitar riff is central to the main theme for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Alessandroni can be heard as the whistler on the soundtracks for Sergio Leone's films, including the Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Pervirella.[3][4] He also collaborated with Morricone in scoring the 1974 film Around the World with Peynet's Lovers.[5]

Alessandroni founded the octet vocal group I Cantori Moderni (English: The Modern Choristers) in 1961.[6] The group, which included his wife, Giulia De Mutiis, performed wordless vocals on several Italian movie soundtracks.[7] Most notably, I Cantori Moderni are featured on the song "Mah Nà Mah Nà", written by Piero Umiliani for the 1968 Luigi Scattini mondo film Sweden: Heaven and Hell (Italian: Svezia, inferno e paradiso) and popularized on The Muppet Show.[8] Alessandroni also founded the rock band Braen's Machine with Piero Umiliani.[9]

Alessandro has also composed film scores, including Any Gun Can Play (1967), The Reward's Yours... The Man's Mine (1969), Lady Frankenstein (1971), The Devil's Nightmare (1971), The Mad Butcher (1971), Seven Hours of Violence (1973), Sinbad and the Caliph of Baghdad (1973), Poker in Bed (1974), White Fang and the Hunter (1975), Blood and Bullets (1976), L'adolescente (1976), La professoressa di scienze naturali (1976), The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976), Women's Camp 119 (1977), Killer Nun (1978), L'imbranato (1979), and Trinity Goes East (1998).

References

  1. ↑ "Maestro Alessandroni passes away at Swakop". namibian.com.na. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  2. ↑ "ALESSANDRO ALESSANDRONI / Prisma Sonoro". Round Table. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "An interview with Alessandro Alessandroni by John Mansell". Soundtrack – The CinemaScore & Soundtrack Archives. 3 July 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  4. ↑ Alessandro Alessandroni interviewed by Tim Fife for Cinema Suicide (in English)
  5. ↑ "Bordighera Personaggi, Raymond Peynet". Bordighera Official Website. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Gordon, Kylee Swenson (1 May 2012). Electronic Musician Presents the Recording Secrets Behind 50 Great Albums. Backbeat Books. ISBN 9781476821368.
  7. ↑ Adinolfi, Francesco (4 April 2008). Mondo Exotica: Sounds, Visions, Obsessions of the Cocktail Generation. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822389088.
  8. ↑ "R.I.P. Italian Soundtrack Great Alessandro Alessandroni". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  9. ↑ Jurek, Thom. "Braen's Machine - Underground Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
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