The Godfather | Timeless Music | Orchestral Suite

Some melodies only need to be heard once; the heart will inexplicably love and remember them forever. The main soundtrack of the movie "The Godfather" is among these. Released in 1972, half a century ago, "The Godfather" won the Oscar award for best film and made Nino Rota's melodies become an immortal song.

"The Godfather" was ranked third by the American Film Institute of the 100 Best Cinematographic works of the century (XX), after "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca." The peak of that success obscured the great composing career of Nino Rota. During his lifetime, he composed over 150 soundtracks, more than ten opera plays, five ballet dances, and more than a dozen hymns and symphonies.

Admiring the talent of Nino Rota, composer of the soundtracks of La Strada (1954) and La Dolce Vita (1960) for Federico Fellini as well as The Love Story of Romeo & Juliet (1968) for Franco Zefirelli, director Coppola invited Nino Rota to work with him. The American director went to Rome in the fall of 1971 to meet the Italian author.

Although it is very popular, the love melody ''Speak Softly, Love'' is not the most important music in "The Godfather." The important song repeated in the film is "the Godfather Waltz," when Vito Corleone, as a father, dances with his daughter, Connie, on the wedding day. The melody of "Speak Softly, Love" only appears in the latter part of the film, when the youngest son Michael Corleone is forced to go to Sicilia Island for refuge.

''Speak Softly, Love'' is not the main melody but overwhelms the theme music because this is the most passionate and romantic music in the movie "The Godfather." However, Nino Rota did not win the Oscar a year later, mainly because this music was used in 1958 in the film ''Fortunella'' by Eduardo de Philippe. Two years later, Nino Rota was awarded an Oscar for composing the soundtrack for the second episode of "The Godfather."

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