SOUNDTRACKS
NINO ROTA | GEFFEN
The Godfather: classical? No, it’s Don’s music.
Although Francis Ford Coppola initially passed on directing 1972’s The Godfather, he put his stamp on it when he did sign up. He famously battled Paramount on multiple fronts to assert his control, from casting to score. Studio exec Robert Evans wanted classy ‘Moon River’ composer Henry Mancini. As Coppola pushed for Italy’s Nino Rota, famed for his work with Fellini, a stalemate ensued.
It was only when Coppola screened his Mario Puzo adaptation to a small, appreciative audience with Rota’s music included that Evans buckled. Maybe he knew an offer not to be refused when he heard it. A model of cohesion forged amid conflict, Rota’s score is vital to The Godfather’s shape and identity.
Responding to Coppola’s request for a score steeped in nostalgia for southern Italy and Sicily, Rota’s compositions comment on and express The Godfather’s themes, narrative and character with operatic dignity, feeling and nuance. Yet despite the plot’s scale, Rota knew the value of keeping the focus lean. Presented in subtly varied forms for thematic force and finesse, the three main cues fit The Godfather’s tones with the elegance of a crisp-cut suit.
The main waltz emerges on melancholy trumpet to start, before Rota steers it between tragic foreboding and sorrowful nostalgia via instruments reflecting Sicilian traditions: accordion and mandolin. With Francis’ father Carmine Coppola’s ‘Connie’s Wedding’ in between, ‘I Have But One Heart’ and the jazzy ‘The Pickup’ offer plot-specific divergences before the second main theme. The trumpet’s mournful return leads into Michael Corleone’s ominous cue on ‘The Halls Of Fear’, hinting at his pending rise and moral fall.
After the waltz recording of ‘Sicilian Pastorale’, the score’s final main cue is a belter. Later covered by Andy Williams and (in concert) Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, the sumptuously melodic ‘Love Theme’ adds heart to heighten the sense of looming tragedy. But love doesn’t last on screen. Michael’s ascension takes over between the funereal ‘The New Godfather’ and ‘The Godfather Finale’, where Rota’s magisterial assemblage of all his themes asserts the score’s grimly fatalist flavour.
Unfortunately, an Oscar was not forthcoming this time around. Rota’s minor redevelopment of themes from his earlier scores sparked his disqualification, though this was not deemed a problem for 1974’s The Godfather Part II, for which he did win the Oscar. Some claim Part II is a richer score. But it owes respect to its stately predecessor, and to Coppola’s force of conviction.