Aldo Piga (1928–1994) was an Italian-American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who worked mainly in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Aldo Piga's work was mainly produced in the 1950s and 1960s in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He started as a song composer and later approached the

movie soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

field. His participation in the

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

Italian market counts with two participations in the famous contest of

Sanremo Sanremo, also spelled San Remo in English and formerly in Italian, is a (municipality) on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination ...

, one of which was overshadowed in the year of the famous

Modugno Modugno (; ) is a town and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It borders the municipalities of Bari, Bitetto, Bitonto, Bitritto, and Palo del Colle. Before the 1970s, the town was mainly dedicated to agric ...

's song " Volare". He recorded about one hundred film soundtracks. One film soundtrack that he contributed to was

Il grido ''Il grido'' (English: "The Cry", initially released as ''The Outcry'' in the US) is a 1957 road drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Dorian Gray, Gabriella Pallotta and Betsy Blair. An Italian ...

, a 1957 Italian drama directed by

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

, which included “Non lo saprai mai” (You will never know it) by Piga and Renato Barneschi. His activity as a composer was strongly influenced by

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

jazz roots of his early years in the New York music scene. Piga's work was also known to British television audiences in the last late 1950s. "Come to My Arms", which Piga wrote with

Maurizio de Angelis Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, also known as Oliver Onions, are a prolific duo of Italy, Italian musicians, multi-instrumentalists, composers and Singing, singers, as well as Television producer, television and film producers. They reached the h ...

and Jack Elliott featured on the British television programme

Six-Five Special ''Six-Five Special'' is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain. Description ''Six-Five Special'' was the BBC's first attempt at a rock-and-roll programme. ...

in 1958, where it was performed by

Dickie Valentine Richard Bryce ( Maxwell; 4 November 1929 – 6 May 1971), known professionally as Dickie Valentine, was a British pop singer who enjoyed great popularity in Britain during the 1950s. In addition to several other Top Ten hit singles, Valentine h ...

. After a promising career as a music writer, he decided to start working as a film producer in the late 1960s. This change led to an end in both his careers as a writer and producer. In the 1990s Piga left Italy to retire in New York where he spent his last days until 1994.

Filmography

As composer

1950s

* I mafiosi (1959) * Gli avventurieri dei tropici (1959) :(Seven in the Sun) (USA) *

Due selvaggi a corte Due or DUE may refer to: * DUE or DNA unwinding element, the originating site for splitting the DNA helix * DÜE (''Datenübertragungseinrichtung''), German for “data communications equipment” * Due (surname), including a list of people with ...

(1959)

1960s

* L'amante del vampiro (1960) :(The Vampire and the Ballerina) (USA) :(The Vampire's Lover) (USA) *

Capitani di ventura Capitani is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alice Capitani (born 1984), Italian gymnast * Giorgio Capitani (1927–2017), Italian film director and screenwriter * Ignacio Capitani (born 1987), Argentine footballer * Otello Ca ...

(1961) * La grande vallata (1961) * Capitaine tempête(1961) :(Captain Tempest) (English) :(La Spada della vendetta) (Italy) * La Corona di fuoco (1961) :(Umberto Biancamano) (Italy) * L'urlo dei bolidi (1961) :(The Roar of the Bolidi) (English) * La notte dell'innominato (1962) * Il trionfo di Robin Hood (1962) :(The Triumph of Robin Hood) (USA) * Due leggi, Le (1962) *

Un branco di vigliacchi The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among sta ...

(1962) :(No Man's Land) (USA) * Letto di sabbia (1962) * Il segno del vendicatore (1962) * Strage dei vampiri, La (1962) :(Curse of the Blood Ghouls) (USA) * Tempo di credere (1962) * L'ultima preda del vampiro (1962) :(Curse of the Vampire) (USA) :(The Playgirls and the Vampire) (USA) * Lo sparviero dei Caraibi (1963) :(Caribbean Hawk) (USA) * Il pirata del diavolo (1963) :(Flag of Death) (UK) :(The Saracens) (USA) * Le tre spade di Zorro (1963) :(Sword of Zorro) (USA) :(Tres espadas del Zorro, Las) (Spain) * Tarzak contro gli uomini leopardo (1964) :(Ape Man of the Jungle) (USA) * Amore facile (1964) * Il ribelle di Castelmonte (1964) :(Sword of Rebellion) (USA) * Il mostro dell'opera (1964) :(The Vampire of the Opera) * Italia di notte n. 1 (1964) :(Italian Sexy Show) * Michelino Cucchiarella (1964) * Zorikan lo sterminatore (1964) :(Zorikan the Barbarian) (USA) : I tre centurioni *''

Three Swords for Rome ''Three Swords for Rome'' () is a 1964 Italian ''peplum'' film co-written and directed by Roberto Mauri and starring Roger Browne.Michele Giordano. ''Giganti buoni''. Gremese Editore, 1998. . The film was produced by Aldo Piga, who also compos ...

'' (1964) *

Le notti della violenza ''Night of Violence'' () is a 1965 Italian film directed by Roberto Mauri and starring Helene Chanel and Marilu Tolo. It was initially banned in Italy on the time of its release, and released in France first as ''Call Girls 66''. It was released ...

(1965) :(Night of Violence) (USA) * Cinque tombe per un medium (1965) :(Terror-Creatures from the Grave) * Fango sulla metropoli (1965) :(I criminali della metropoli) (Italy) * A... come assassino (1966) * I tre centurioni (1966) :(Three Swords for Rome) (English) * Rembrandt 7 antwortet nicht... (1966) : Mark Donen agente Zeta 7 (Italy) :(Z-7, operación Rembrandt) (Spain) :(Z7 Operation Rembrandt) (USA) * Assassino senza volto (1968)

As producer

* ''

'' (1964) * Rembrandt 7 antwortet nicht... (1966) (uncredited producer) : Mark Donen agente Zeta 7 (Italy) :

Z-7, operación Rembrandt ''Z7 Operation Rembrandt'' (, , ) is a 1966 German-Italian-Spanish Eurospy film written and directed by Giancarlo Romitelli and starring Lang Jeffries. It was shot in Macau, Tangier, Rome, Málaga, and Torremolinos. Plot Cast References ...

(Spain) :

Z7 Operation Rembrandt ''Z7 Operation Rembrandt'' (, , ) is a 1966 German-Italian-Spanish Eurospy film written and directed by Giancarlo Romitelli and starring Lang Jeffries. It was shot in Macau, Tangier, Rome, Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain ...

(USA)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piga, Aldo 1994 deaths Italian male composers 1928 births 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian male musicians