Favourite Giallo Movie Composers
Giallo is an Italian movie subgenre which combines Thriller and Horror. These stylish killer movies have beautiful, dark atmospheric scores, and it is time to also honor the music section as an important part of the unique work of art.
No ranking, just sorted First Name / Family Name.
Except Fabio Frizzi, who composed a lot for the genre.
Personal favourites are Giorgio Gaslini, Nora Orlandi, and as always Maestro Ennio Morricone.
Thanks for checking, enjoy.
No ranking, just sorted First Name / Family Name.
Except Fabio Frizzi, who composed a lot for the genre.
Personal favourites are Giorgio Gaslini, Nora Orlandi, and as always Maestro Ennio Morricone.
Thanks for checking, enjoy.
List activity
997 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
35 people
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Fabio Frizzi was born on 2 July 1951 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Zombie (1979) and Saint Frankenstein (2015).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Adolfo Waitzman was born on 4 May 1932 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a composer, known for Zampo y yo (1966), Hotel Fear (1978) and Diferente (1962). He was married to Encarnita Polo, Nélida Pastori and Gogó Rojo. He died on 9 May 1998 in Madrid, Spain.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Armando Trovajoli was born on 2 September 1917 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), A Special Day (1977) and Get Smart (2008). He was married to Maria Paola Trovajoli and Pier Angeli. He died on 1 March 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Berto Pisano was born on 13 October 1928 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. He was a composer, known for Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971), Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) and The Big Blackout (1966). He died on 29 January 2002 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bruno Maderna was born on 21 April 1920 in Venice, Veneto, Italy. He was a composer, known for Noi cannibali (1953), The Temptress (1951) and Opinione pubblica (1954). He died on 13 November 1973 in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany.- Music Department
- Composer
- Special Effects
Bruno Nicolai was born on 26 May 1926 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Django (1966) and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). He died on 16 August 1991 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Producer
Carlo Maria Cordio was born on 24 February 1952 in Rome, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Troll 2 (1990), Terminator II (1989) and 2020 Texas Gladiators (1983).- Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Carlo Rustichelli was born on 24 December 1916 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a composer, known for Man of Straw (1958), L'armata Brancaleone (1966) and The Facts of Murder (1959). He was married to Elvira Zecchino. He died on 13 November 2004 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Carlo Savina was born on 2 August 1919 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for The Brothers Bloom (2008), Sixteen Candles (1984) and The Tenant (1976). He died on 23 June 2002 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first film scores were relatively undistinguished, but he was hired by Leone for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) on the strength of some of his song arrangements. His score for that film, with its sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation (bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, the distinctive twang of the jew's harp) and memorable tunes, revolutionized the way music would be used in Westerns, and it is hard to think of a post-Morricone Western score that doesn't in some way reflect his influence. Although his name will always be synonymous with the spaghetti Western, Morricone has also contributed to a huge range of other film genres: comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, exploitation movies - making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He has written nearly 400 film scores, so a brief summary is impossible, but his most memorable work includes the Leone films, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) , Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988), plus a rare example of sung opening credits for Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Fiorenzo Carpi was born on 19 October 1918 in Milan, Italy. He was a composer, known for Voltati Eugenio (1980), Notte italiana (1987) and Il prete bello (1989). He died on 21 May 1997 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born in Rome, he studied composition at the Neapolitan Conservatory "S. Pietro a Majella" under the direction of M° Achille Longo then proceeded to study orchestra direction at the Chigiana Academy in Siena with Paul Van Kempen and Franco Ferrara. He also graduated in horn, after having studied with Domenico Ceccarossi. He then took part in the "A. Scarlatti" Orchestra of Naples and in the Rome Symphonic Orchestra of RAI TV. In 1968 he won the "Review" award of young conductors sponsored by RAI, and since then he has been very active in conducting concerts and operas in Italy and abroad. In 1974 he held the chair of orchestra rehearsals at the Conservatory "S. Pietro a Majella" in Naples where, since 1983, he has been teaching orchestra direction. He has been teaching at the "S. Cecilia" Conservatory of Rome since 1989.
He has recorded many discs with music by Boccherini, Mozart, Ciaikovsky, Honegger, Chausson, Beethoven, C. Nielsen, V. Caracciolo. He is the director of the "Roma Symphonia" orchestra. In the field of film soundtracks he began his activity in the 1950s composing music for a few documentaries and feature films. In 1955 he attended a course in film music taught by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, and later became his assistant, collaborating with him on several major films. In 1957 he started his collaboration with Folco Quilici, first on some documentaries, then on the following films: "Dagli Appennini alle Ande" followed by "Ti-koyo e il suo Pescecane" and on several TV series such as "Firenze 1000 Giorni", "L'Uomo Europeo", "Festa Barocca", "Grandepoque", "Archivi del Tempo", "Le Avventure del Capitano Cook", etc. He has composed scores to hundreds of cinematographic and TV documentaries and to more than 200 films, especially historical films and westerns, in Italy, Spain, Germany and the U.S..- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Franco Micalizzi was born on 21 December 1939 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer, known for Death Proof (2007), Grindhouse (2007) and Django Unchained (2012).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Gianfranco Reverberi was born on 12 December 1934 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a composer, known for Kick-Ass (2010), Boyhood (2014) and The Big Short (2015). He died on 8 January 2024 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Gianni Ferrio was born on 16 November 1924 in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. He was a composer, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Look Who's Back (2015) and The Adventurers (1970). He was married to Alba Arnova. He died on 21 October 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Giorgio Gaslini was born on 22 October 1929 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a composer, known for Deep Red (1975), La Notte (1961) and Love (2015). He was married to Simona Caucia. He died on 29 July 2014 in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Pippo Caruso was born on 22 December 1935 in Belpasso, Sicily, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Escape from Women's Prison (1978), Il maestro di violino (1976) and I due toreri (1964). He died on 28 May 2018 in Passo Corese, Rieti, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Producer
- Writer
Guido De Angelis was born on 22 December 1944 in Rocca di Papa, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Death Proof (2007) and All the Way Boys (1972).- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Hailed as a keyboard legend, Keith Emerson has been one of the most important figures to emerge from the thriving UK rock scene of the 1960s and 70s. He is known as one of the most prominent leaders in the progressive rock movement, fusing rock 'n' roll with a myriad of musical styles, such as classical, jazz and world music. A modern wizard of electronic and acoustic keyboards, most notably the organ and synthesizer, he has set a standard by which others multiply. With both "The Nice" and "Emerson, Lake & Palmer," Emerson has written and recorded some of rock's most adventurous music and brought it to the masses with unmatched virtuosity and skillful showmanship. Born November 2, 1944 in Todmorden, Lancashire, England, Keith Emerson soon became a piano sensation in his hometown of Worthing, Sussex by the time he was fourteen years old. In his late teens, he moved to London, joined the band "V.I.P.'s" and later "Gary Farr and the T-Bones," backing their mentor T-Bone Walker at the Marquee Club in London, also touring Germany, France and the UK. Some of his early influences were jazz artists Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Jack McDuff and Big John Patton. Classical composers also became influential to his music including J.S. Bach, Aaron Copland, Demetri Shostokovich, Bela Bartok and Alberto Ginestera amongst others. In his twenties, he formed a band called "The Nice" with bassist/vocalist Lee Jackson, drummer Brian Davison and guitarist David O'List, which backed ex-Ike and Tina Turner's singer P.P. Arnold. The group struck out on its own with a unique blend of classical, blues, jazz and rock. Emerson adopted the Hammond Organ as his instrument of choice during this period and soon gained fame for his outrageous stage antics and inspired musical performances. "The Nice" recorded numerous albums and appeared in a notorious concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Immediately after hearing "Switched on Bach" by Walter Carlos, Emerson purchased and experimented with one of the first modular Moog Synthesizers and became the first artist to tour with "The Moog" internationally with the help of its inventor, Dr. Robert Moog. In 1970, "The Nice" broke up and Emerson formed the legendary group, "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" (ELP) with bassist/vocalist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer. They achieved instant fame with their debut at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970. The trio announced their arrival on the scene by tearing into a furious rock adaptation of Mussorgsky's classic "Pictures At An Exhibition," which concluded with a barrage of cannon fire. Their first single, entitled "Lucky Man," from their debut album, "Emerson, Lake & Palmer," ended with a startling new sound, the lead Moog synthesizer solo. This sound took the world by storm, and the band was on its way. ELP released six platinum albums between 1970 and 1977, including "E, L&P," "Tarkus," "Trilogy," the cryptically entitled "Brain Salad Surgery," "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends�" and "Works Vol. 1." They headlined the massive 1974 festival California Jam playing to an audience of over 500,000. Later in 1977, ELP toured with a handpicked orchestra, which performed Emerson's "Piano Concerto No. 1." After touring with the orchestra, ELP continued on the road as a trio, releasing two more albums "Works Vol. 2" and "Love Beach" before they disbanded in 1979. Between 1985 and 1990, Emerson collaborated with Lake and Palmer in two separate efforts, "Emerson, Lake & Powell" and the band "3" respectively. In 1992, ELP reunited with the critically acclaimed "Black Moon." Subsequent world tours which resulted in the live performance releases of "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" in 1993 and "Then And Now" in 1999. In 1980, Emerson issued his first solo album, a Caribbean island inspired work called "Honky." In addition, he recorded and released "The Christmas Album," displaying his own unique interpretation of many classic Christmas songs along with original seasonal pieces. Soon thereafter, he turned to motion picture soundtrack composition, producing several film scores between 1979 and 1989, including the orchestral score for Universal Studios feature release, "Nighthawks," starring Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams and cult Italian horror master Dario Argento's "Inferno." Emerson also realized a full length Japanese animated film entitled "Harmagedon" in which he received a gold record for the main title theme, "Children of The Light" sung by Rosemary Butler. Emerson also composed the music for Marvel Animation's cartoon action TV series, "Iron Man" in 1994. Emerson went on to release the occasional collection of new material appearing on-stage. He even reunited with Nice band mates Brian Davison and Lee Jackson for a show in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2002 (Vivacitas). Along with the EMI classic release of the solo piano, "Emerson plays Emerson" in the same year He penned an autobiography, "Pictures of an Exhibitionist" in 2003. He received the compilation treatment from Castle Records in 2005 with the two-disc "Hammer It Out: The Anthology." He toured in the USA, UK, Europe and Japan in 2004, 2005 & 2006 with his own "Keith Emerson Band", along with occasional collaborations with various orchestras in Naples, Italy and Beijing, China to promote the environmental issues. Always diverse in musical tastes, he sometimes sits in with jazz bands while encouraging others to take a safer road. Throughout the years, Emerson has consistently won the Overall Best Keyboardist award in the annual Keyboard Magazine Readers' Poll, since the magazine debuted in 1975 and holds a seat of honor on their advisory board. He was recently honored at The Smithsonian Institution, along with Dr. Robert Moog, for his pioneering work in electronic music. Emerson is currently (Jan 2009) working on another with regular collaborator Marc Bonilla and producer Keith Wechsler. The new album has been released in mid 2008, and the band has been touring in Europe, Baltic, and Japan. Forthcoming tour dates to be announced.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Coriolano Gori was born on 7 March 1927 in Cervia, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a composer, known for Kindar the Invulnerable (1965), Massacre Time (1966) and Karzan, il favoloso uomo della jungla (1972). He died on 1 December 1982 in Terracina, Lazio, Italy.Better known as Lallo Gori- Composer
- Music Department
- Writer
Manuel De Sica was born on 24 February 1949 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and writer, known for The Icicle Thief (1989), Celluloide (1996) and Cemetery Man (1994). He was married to Tilde Corsi and Maria Lucia Langella. He died on 5 December 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Producer
- Music Department
Maurizio De Angelis was born on 22 February 1947 in Rocca di Papa, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Death Proof (2007) and All the Way Boys (1972).- Music Department
- Composer
- Actress
Nora Orlandi was born on 28 June 1933 in Voghera, Lombardy, Italy. She is a composer and actress, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Double Face (1969) and The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Piero Piccioni was born in Turin (Italy) on the 6th December 1921. Son of a pure Turinese mother (her maiden name was Marengo), and from here the pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957. He had played on the radio with his historic Big Band "013" in 1938, to then return, after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His was the first Italian jazz band to be aired in Italy. Piero Piccioni had listened to jazz since he was a child and had learned to play the piano without having been to the Conservatory. As a self-taught musician, his father used to accompany him to visit the E.I.A.R. in Florence, to listen to orchestral recitals. As he began to write some songs of his own he was able to get some published by Carisch. Having written nearly 300 soundtracks and pieces for radio, television, ballets and orchestra he was deeply influenced by 20th century classical composers and by American cinematography. Amongst his favourites were Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford and Alex North, who had greatly influenced him in his use of jazz.
Piero Piccioni had come in contact with the world of movies during the fifties when he was practicing as a lawyer in Rome and sealing movie rights for Italian Italian distributors as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called him to create music for a documentary for one of his apprentices, Luigi Polidoro. His first feature film was Gianni Franciolini's, "Il Mondo le Condanna"(1952). Piccioni had found a close working relationship with directors Francesco Rosi (More Than A Miracle, Le Mani Sulla Citta', Salvatore Giuliano, Chronicle of a Death Foretold) and Alberto Sordi, and had also cemented strong personal and professional bonds with them. Many directors had wanted Piero Piccioni for the music for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and more. "Swept Away"(David Donatello prize) and "Tutto A Posto Niente in Ordine" by Lina Wertmuller, "Il bell'Antonio" by Mauro Bolognini , the "Tenth Victim" by Elio Petri, with Marcello Mastroianni Ursula Andress also bear his name. His very distinctive style of Jazz, Bossanova, Orchestral and Contemporary Classical will not be easily forgotten.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Piero Umiliani was born on 17 July 1926 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a composer, known for The Spectacular Now (2013), Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) and The Muppets (2011). He died on 14 February 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born in Burano (Venice) in 1941, Pino Donaggio studied violin at the Conservatory of Venice and Milan.
After a period of adolescent performer of classical music with the Solisti Veneti and the Soloists of Milan, in 1959 he began to devote himself to the pop music that soon led to international success.
He has participated in ten editions of the Sanremo Festival getting a 3rd place in 1963 with the song "Giovane giovane" and a 4th place in 1966 with the song "Una casa in cima al mondo". His best-known song and performed is 1965 "Io che non vivo (senza te)" starring, among others, also by Elvis Presley.
Since 1973, Donaggio began gradually to abandon pop music to devote himself to composing music for films. In over forty years of activity it has put together more than two hundred soundtracks for the big and small screen, both in Italy and abroad.
He lives and works in Venice.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Riz Ortolani was born on 25 March 1926 in Pesaro, Marche, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Day of Anger (1967), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Festa di laurea (1985). He was married to Katina Ranieri. He died on 23 January 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
One of only two composers to start out as a dentist (the other being English-born Wilfred Josephs) Roberto Nicolosi was born in Genoa in 1914. As well as gaining a degree in medicine, he also won a diploma in composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan. After several years in Milan as a practising dentist, Nicolosi began to win popularity in the 1940s as a leading jazz musician in Italy, at first playing piano, violin, trumpet, vibraphone or double-bass, then conducting and arranging for radio and records. Moving to Rome, he wrote musical criticism and worked in nightclubs and theatres.
His movie break-through came in 1954 with the score for Folco Quilici's documentary Sesto continente (1954). In 1957 Nicolosi turned his attention to the Italian epics. Although an unlikely choice to score historical movies, he turned out to be a master of the genre, with a fine symphonic style far removed from his jazz persona. In all he turned out fifteen Italian epic scores before the craze petered out in the mid-1960s. Having retired from films in 1971, Roberto Nicolosi passed away in 1989 in a Rome hospital.- Roberto Rizzo is known for Gli assassini sono nostri ospiti (1974) and Passi furtivi in una notte boia (1976).
- Sante Maria Romitelli was a composer, known for Isabella, Duchess of the Devils (1969), This Time I'll Make You Rich (1974) and Sotto a chi tocca! (1972). Sante Maria died on 30 October 2004 in Perugia, Umbria, Italy.
- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Silvano Spadaccino was born on 3 December 1933 in Foggia, Apulia, Italy. He was an actor and composer, known for Naked Violence (1969), Asylum Erotica (1971) and To Be Twenty (1978). He died on 29 December 2010 in Monterotondo, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stefano Torossi was born on 6 January 1938 in Rome, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Friends with Kids (2011), Italiani! È severamente proibito servirsi della toilette durante le fermate (1969) and Deadly Inheritance (1968).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
He studied piano and harmony at Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. In 1957 he started playing light music, being the pianist of important singers such as Rita Pavone. In USA he studied jazz with Dave Brubeck. In 1966 he was called by Cam to compose his first soundtrack: The Bounty Killer, a film directed by Tomas Milian. After the good success, he was asked to compose other soundtracks, among which was A Man, A Horse And A Gun in 1967, which was recorded in the same year by Henry Mancini. Worldwide fame, however, came in 1970, when he composed the score for Anonymous Venetian. This score was a hit all over the world, receiving all the major awards, and is still considered one of the most famous Italian soundtracks. Another very important soundtrack is Tentacles, an American film interpreted by John Huston, Shelley Winters and Henry Fonda. Stelvio Cipriani has composed over 200 film scores, still continuing his activity.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
He completed his studies in Milan. After having received his diploma in Humanities, he attended the Faculty of Pure Mathematics at the State University for four years with good results. He specialized in music and choir song in 1944, and graduated in Composition from the Conservatory "G. Verdi" of Milan in 1945. After having fought as a partisan from 1941 to 1945, he studied in depth vocal polyphony in 1947. In the immediate postwar period, he started his musical career as a director of vocal polyphonic groups for various concerts and radio programs of polyphonic music, paying particular attention to the Italians of the XVI and XVII centuries. He moved to Rome in the late forties, and has been extremely busy writing music for cinema and for television. In the field of folk music he studied Italian regional groups, and his transcriptions, from the laudi of the 1200s to the songs of the mountain, belong to the repertory of numerous choirs. Among the most famous are Montagnes Valdotaines and Belle rose du printemps. He has also composed various songs, such as Meravigliose labbra and La canzone del faro, which were quite successful. He taught "Harmony and Counterpoint" in the conservatories of Piacenza, Bologna and L'Aquila; he retired from teaching in 1986. He created for RAI 3 TV a series of 6 episodes, each dedicated to a major contemporary Italian composer, called "Che musica è". He participated in it as Conductor, taking part in debates with the public and presenting various music performed by "Spettro sonoro". At present, he is working on music with computers, programming computers and composing "digital music". He collaborates with the C.R.M. (Center for Music Research) of Rome, creating software for the projects "FLY10" and "FLY30". Among his compositions in this genre we mention Mooning for soprano and c64, Sinite for Fly10 and soprano, and Nomina for Fly30 and soprano. Furthermore, his main compositions include music for theater, for orchestra, chamber music, film music (for films directed by Marco Ferreri and other renowned directors) and music for TV.- Trans Europa Express is known for Watch Me When I Kill (1977).Gianfranco Coletta & Mauro Lusini