Alessandro Alessandroni (18 March 1925 – 26 March 2017) was an Italian musician and composer. He played multiple instruments, including the guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, mandolincello,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

and piano, composed more than 40

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s and countless library music tracks, and was renowned for his whistling technique.

Biography

Alessandroni collaborated with his childhood friend

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

on a number of soundtracks for

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

s. Morricone's orchestration often calls for an unusual combination of instruments, voices, and whistling. Alessandroni's twangy guitar riff is central to the main theme for ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, literally "''The good, the ugly, the bad''") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

''. Alessandroni can be heard as the whistler on the soundtracks for

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

's films, including the ''

Dollars Trilogy The ''Dollars Trilogy'' (), also known as the ''Man with No Name Trilogy'' (), is an Italian film series consisting of three spaghetti western films directed by Sergio Leone. The films are titled '' A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), '' For a Few ...

'', ''

Once Upon a Time in the West ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( is a 1968 epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati, based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci and Leone. It stars Henry Fonda, playing against t ...

'', and '' Pervirella''. He also collaborated with Morricone in scoring the 1974 film '' Around the World with Peynet's Lovers''. Alessandroni founded the octet vocal group ' ( English: ''The Modern Choristers'') in 1961. The group, which included his wife, , performed wordless vocals on several Italian movie soundtracks. Most notably, ''I Cantori Moderni'' are featured on the song "

Mah Nà Mah Nà "Mah Nà Mah Nà" is a popular song by Italian composer Piero Umiliani. It originally appeared in the Italian film '' Sweden: Heaven and Hell'' (''Svezia, inferno e paradiso''). On its own it was a minor radio hit in the United States and in Brit ...

", written by

Piero Umiliani Piero Umiliani (17 July 1926 – 14 February 2001) was an Italian composer of film scores. Biography Umiliani was born in Florence, Tuscany. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed the scores for many exploitation fil ...

for the 1968

Luigi Scattini Luigi Scattini (17 May 1927 – 12 July 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Scattini graduated in law, then he began his career as a journalist and a film critic for several weekly magazines such as ''Gente (magazine), Gente ...

mondo film Mondo film is a subgenre of exploitative documentary films. Many mondo films are made in a way to resemble a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations. Common traits of ''mondo films'' include portrayal ...

'' Sweden: Heaven and Hell'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

: ') and popularized on ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

''. Alessandroni also founded the rock band

Braen's Machine Braen's Machine was an Italian rock band formed in 1971. While initially anonymous, credited only to "Braen" and "Gisteri", it was later revealed that the band was a project of composer Piero Umiliani and composer/guitarist Alessandro Alessandron ...

with

. Alessandro has also composed film scores, including '' The Reward's Yours... The Man's Mine'' (1969), '' Lady Frankenstein'' (1971), '' The Devil's Nightmare'' (1971), ''The Mad Butcher'' (1971), ''

Seven Hours of Violence ''Seven Hours of Violence'' () is a 1973 Italian crime-thriller film. It marked the directorial debut by Michele Massimo Tarantini. Cast * George Hilton as George Anderson * Rosemary Dexter as Helen Karlatis * Giampiero Albertini as Inspector A ...

'' (1973), '' Sinbad and the Caliph of Baghdad'' (1973), '' Poker in Bed'' (1974), ''

White Fang and the Hunter ''Zanna Bianca e il cacciatore solitario'' (internationally released as ''White Fang and the Hunter'') is a 1975 Italian adventure film directed by Alfonso Brescia. Despite the title tries to market the commercial success of Lucio Fulci's ''White ...

'' (1975), ''

Blood and Bullets ''Blood and Bullets'' (, also known as ''Knell, Bloody Avenger'') is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film written and directed by Alfonso Brescia and starring Jack Palance, George Eastman and Jenny Tamburi. Plot Cast *Jack Palance as Duke *Ge ...

'' (1976), '' L'adolescente'' (1976), '' La professoressa di scienze naturali'' (1976), ''

The Opening of Misty Beethoven ''The Opening of Misty Beethoven'' is an American pornographic comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or ...

'' (1976), ''Women's Camp 119'' (1977), ''

Killer Nun ''Killer Nun'' (Italian: ''Suor Omicidi'', ''Sister Murders'') is a 1979 Italian nunsploitation horror film directed and co-written by Giulio Berruti, co-written by Alberto Tarallo, and starring Anita Ekberg, Joe Dallesandro, Lou Castel, and A ...

'' (1978), '' L'imbranato'' (1979), and ''Trinity Goes East'' (1998).

References

External links

Official site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alessandroni, Alessandro 1925 births 2017 deaths Musicians from Rome Italian film score composers Italian male film score composers Whistlers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian male musicians