Alessandro Cicognini

Who was Alessandro Cicognini?

Alessandro Cicognini was an Italian film music composer.

Born January 25, 1906 in Pescara, Cicognini was classically trained at the Milan Conservatory of Music. He composed 106 soundtracks between 1936 and 1993, many of them for filmmaker Vittorio de Sica. His score for The Bicycle Thief was awarded Best Soundtrack of the Year. Much of his film music makes use of small ensembles and unusual instrumentation, rather than the lush orchestral scores common to film music of the mid-20th century. In 1965 he retired from film composition and became a teacher; one of his soundtracks, to the 1953 film Stazione Termini, was reused in What's Eating Gilbert Grape in 1993.

Cicognini died in Rome on November 9, 1995, at the age of 89.