Prolific composer of soundtracks in the golden era of Italian cinema and musicals
Although never as well-known internationally as his younger compatriot Ennio Morricone, it was Armando Trovajoli who largely supplied the soundtrack to the golden era of Italian cinema. In a career lasting 75 years he wrote 300 compositions for the screen, for singers and for orchestras.
His initial breakthrough came in 1949 when he contributed to the score for Riso amaro (Bitter Rice), one of the key films in the nascent neo-realist genre. It starred Silvana Mangano, and two years later she helped to make Trovajoli’s name still more familiar with her performance of a song, El Negro Zumbon, which