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Luis Bacalov

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Luis Bacalov · Luis Enríquez Bacalov was born in Argentina in 1933 and died in Rome in 2017. He was an Argentine-Italian film composer and pianist and came from a family of Bulgarian Jews. He learned music from Enrique Barenboim, the father of the conductor Daniel Barenboim. He wrote music that became classic for many spaghetti Westerns, such as Django, A Bullet for the General and The Grand Duel, and for Italian crime films such as Caliber 9. In 1980 he also wrote the music for Fellini's La città delle donne.

Music and breakthrough

Bacalov was nominated for an Oscar in 1967 for his music for Pasolini's film about the Gospel of Matthew, and won the prize in 1996 for Il Postino. In the early 1970s he worked with Italian progressive rock bands such as New Trolls and Osanna. He also wrote for choir and orchestra, including Misa Tango from 1997, a mass set to the rhythms of the tango. He also wrote the first triple concerto for bandoneon, piano, soprano and symphony orchestra. From 2005 he led the Orchestra della Magna Grecia in Taranto.

Influence

His Western music reached a large audience through Quentin Tarantino, who used pieces by him in Kill Bill and Django Unchained, including Django itself. In this way the music of an Italian spaghetti Western reached a new audience.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Django and notice the singing and the accompaniment. What atmosphere does the music evoke?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsSpaghetti Western