The Conductor as Collaborator in Early Italian Sound Film

TY - CHAP

T1 - The Conductor as Collaborator in Early Italian Sound Film

AU - Ladd, Marco

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Giorgio Biancorosso and Roberto Calabretto.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This chapter examines an Italian film from 1938, Pietro Micca, from the perspective of a figure often neglected in film music studies: the conductor. The film, a historical costume drama with propagandistic elements, was notable for its strenuous commitment to historical authenticity—a commitment that extended to the soundtrack. Yet it survives only as a fragment, which has forestalled discussion of what remains of the original score (by Giorgio Federico Ghedini) and the screenplay (partially authored by the director, Aldo Vergano). However, the archive of the film conductor Ugo Giacomozzi (1897–1977), preserved in the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, Italy, contains two crucial sources that shed light on the filmmakers’ intentions: first, a set of notes on music-image synchronization in the film, and second, manuscript sheet music of the pastiche Baroque dances that accompanied an early scene. These sources are all in the conductor’s hand, raising the possibility that Giacomozzi made key contributions to Pietro Micca beyond simply recording the score for the soundtrack. By reading into the gaps left by these fragmentary sources—film, screenplay, notes—this chapter thus illuminates the collaborative dynamics at work in early Italian sound cinema.

AB - This chapter examines an Italian film from 1938, Pietro Micca, from the perspective of a figure often neglected in film music studies: the conductor. The film, a historical costume drama with propagandistic elements, was notable for its strenuous commitment to historical authenticity—a commitment that extended to the soundtrack. Yet it survives only as a fragment, which has forestalled discussion of what remains of the original score (by Giorgio Federico Ghedini) and the screenplay (partially authored by the director, Aldo Vergano). However, the archive of the film conductor Ugo Giacomozzi (1897–1977), preserved in the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, Italy, contains two crucial sources that shed light on the filmmakers’ intentions: first, a set of notes on music-image synchronization in the film, and second, manuscript sheet music of the pastiche Baroque dances that accompanied an early scene. These sources are all in the conductor’s hand, raising the possibility that Giacomozzi made key contributions to Pietro Micca beyond simply recording the score for the soundtrack. By reading into the gaps left by these fragmentary sources—film, screenplay, notes—this chapter thus illuminates the collaborative dynamics at work in early Italian sound cinema.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105004513621

U2 - 10.4324/9781003099956-2

DO - 10.4324/9781003099956-2

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9780367569266

SP - 11

EP - 30

BT - Scoring Italian Cinema

A2 - Biancorosso, Giorgio

A2 - Calabretto, Roberto

PB - Routledge

ER -