Carmine Coppola
Encyclopedia
Carmine Coppola was an American
composer
, flautist
, editor, musical director, and songwriter. Coppola was a composer and conductor who contributed to many of the musical scores in The Godfather
, The Godfather Part II
, The Godfather Part III
, and Apocalypse Now
directed by his son Francis Ford Coppola
.
Zasa) and Agostino Coppola. His brother is Maestro Anton Coppola
. He was the father of August Coppola
, Francis Ford Coppola
, and Talia Shire
, and grandfather of Nicolas Cage
, Sofia Coppola
, Jason Schwartzman
and Robert Schwartzman. His wife, Italia Coppola
, died in 2004 in Los Angeles. Coppola died in Northridge, California
at the age of 80. Upon his death, Coppola's grandson Robert Schwartzman changed his last name to 'Carmine' in his grandfather's honor.
. He studied at Juilliard
, later at the Manhattan School of Music
and privately with Joseph Schillinger
. During the 1940s, Coppola worked under Arturo Toscanini
with the NBC Symphony Orchestra
. Then in 1951, Coppola left the Orchestra to pursue his dream of composing music. During that time he mostly worked as an orchestra conductor on Broadway
and elsewhere, working with his son, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola
, on additional music for his Finian's Rainbow
. Later, his son called him to provide additional music for The Godfather Part II
, in which he and his father received an in-movie tribute with the characters Agostino and Carmine Coppola, who appear in a deleted scene from the young Vito Corleone flashback segments. Together with Nino Rota
, Carmine composed music for The Godfather
, and for The Godfather Part II; they won Oscars
for Best Score for the latter. He also composed the score for The Godfather Part III
. He made cameo appearances in all three Godfather films as a conductor. Carmine then scored Francis' Apocalypse Now
, for which he won a Golden Globe Award
for best original score. He also composed three and a half hour score for Francis' 1981 reconstruction of Abel Gance
's 1927 epic Napoléon.
In his audio commentary on The Godfather Part III DVD, Francis said that he knew his father was close to death when he missed a cue—something he never did in his prime. As it turned out, Coppola died less than four months after Part III premiered.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
, editor, musical director, and songwriter. Coppola was a composer and conductor who contributed to many of the musical scores in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
, and Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
directed by his son Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
.
Personal life
Coppola was born in New York City, the son of Marie (néeMarried and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Zasa) and Agostino Coppola. His brother is Maestro Anton Coppola
Anton Coppola
Maestro Anton Coppola is an American opera conductor and composer. He is the uncle of film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, as well as the great-uncle of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola , Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman.-Life:Coppola started his...
. He was the father of August Coppola
August Coppola
August Floyd Coppola was an American academic, author, film executive and advocate for the arts. He is also known as the father of actor Nicolas Cage.-Family life:...
, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, and Talia Shire
Talia Shire
Talia Shire is an American actress most known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather films and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series.-Personal life:...
, and grandfather of Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
, Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
and Robert Schwartzman. His wife, Italia Coppola
Italia Coppola
Italia Pennino Coppola is most famous as the matriarch of the Coppola family.Born in New York City, she was one of six children of Anna and composer Francesco Pennino, both of Naples, Italy. Her father was a composer of Italian songs, an importer of Italian films and a movie theater owner...
, died in 2004 in Los Angeles. Coppola died in Northridge, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
at the age of 80. Upon his death, Coppola's grandson Robert Schwartzman changed his last name to 'Carmine' in his grandfather's honor.
Career
Coppola played the fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
. He studied at Juilliard
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, later at the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
and privately with Joseph Schillinger
Joseph Schillinger
Joseph Schillinger was a composer, music theorist, and composition teacher. He was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine and died in New York City.-Life and career:...
. During the 1940s, Coppola worked under Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
with the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
. Then in 1951, Coppola left the Orchestra to pursue his dream of composing music. During that time he mostly worked as an orchestra conductor on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and elsewhere, working with his son, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, on additional music for his Finian's Rainbow
Finian's Rainbow (film)
Finian's Rainbow is a 1968 American musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola that stars Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. The screenplay by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy is based on their 1947 stage musical of the same name.-Plot:...
. Later, his son called him to provide additional music for The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, in which he and his father received an in-movie tribute with the characters Agostino and Carmine Coppola, who appear in a deleted scene from the young Vito Corleone flashback segments. Together with Nino Rota
Nino Rota
Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
, Carmine composed music for The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, and for The Godfather Part II; they won Oscars
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Score for the latter. He also composed the score for The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
. He made cameo appearances in all three Godfather films as a conductor. Carmine then scored Francis' Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
, for which he won a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for best original score. He also composed three and a half hour score for Francis' 1981 reconstruction of Abel Gance
Abel Gance
Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...
's 1927 epic Napoléon.
In his audio commentary on The Godfather Part III DVD, Francis said that he knew his father was close to death when he missed a cue—something he never did in his prime. As it turned out, Coppola died less than four months after Part III premiered.
Filmography
- Tonight for SureTonight for Sure-External links:...
(1962, Composer (Music Score) / Musical Direction/Supervision) - The People (1971, Composer (Music Score))
- The GodfatherThe GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
(1972, Piano Sequence) - The Godfather Part IIThe Godfather Part IIThe Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
(1974, Conductor / Composer (Music Score) / Musical Direction/Supervision) - The Black StallionThe Black Stallion (film)The Black Stallion is a 1979 American film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a desert island, together with a wild Arabian stallion whom he befriends...
(1979, Composer (Music Score)) - Apocalypse NowApocalypse NowApocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
(1979, Composer (Music Score)) - The OutsidersThe Outsiders (film)The Outsiders is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The film was released in March 1983...
(1983, Editor/Composer (Music Score)) - Gardens of StoneGardens of StoneGardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:...
(1987, Composer (Music Score)) - Blood Red (1989, Composer (Music Score))
- Tucker: The Man and His DreamTucker: The Man and His DreamTucker: The Man and His Dream is a 1988 biographical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges. The film recounts the story of Preston Tucker and his attempt to produce and market the 1948 Tucker Sedan, which was met with scandal between the "Big Three automobile...
(1988, Composer (Music Score) / Songwriter) - New York StoriesNew York StoriesNew York Stories is a 1989 anthology film; it consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City.The first is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price and starring Nick Nolte. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by...
(Composer (Music Score) / Actor: Street Musician)) - The Godfather Part IIIThe Godfather Part IIIThe Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
(1990, Composer (Music Score) / Musical Direction/Supervision) - The FreshmanThe Freshman (1990 film)The Freshman is a 1990 American crime comedy film starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, in which Brando parodies his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather....
(1990, Songwriter)
External links
- The Black Stallion By Gary S Dalkin
- Soundtrack BY MSN Music
- Find-A-Grave profile for Carmine Coppola