A famous song from Domenico Modugno’s 1976 film “Il maestro di violino” (The violin teacher). The violin maestro Giovanni Russo (Domenico Modugno) teaches violin at the Perugia conservatory. He is loved by all. Young people admire him. He falls in love with one of his female pupils, and one of the rich ladies in town loves him. Later we learn that he was a great concert soloist and had to give up his career because of the untimely death of his wife Jene Anderson, nipped by alcohol abuse.
Il maestro di violino
Perugia, Morlacchi Conservatory. The school lives thanks to the patronage of two generous benefactors: the industrialist Gaudenzi and the Countess Margherita of Sansevero. Maestro Giovanni Russo teaches violin at the Conservatory, a talent of exquisite musical sensitivity and well-liked by all.
Among his pupils, there is also the son of Gaudenzi, Carlo, and the daughter of the countess of Sansevero, the countess Laura. But the sixteen-year-old Agnese, the piano teacher Luciana Taddei, and the countess Margherita herself, a widow for some time, also aspire to the hand of the violinist.
As Laura falls in love, the master’s secret past comes to light in the aristocratic circles that have welcomed him. It turns out that Giovanni Russo is the son of an emigrant to the United States, who fled Italy during the fascist period, taking with him the child who was not yet five years old.
Little Giovanni is a creature that musically is raised with love by a Jewish violinist. But the past hides other sadness: he was, in fact, an established concert performer, with the name of Joe Russo. But the untimely death of his wife Jane Anderson, cut short by alcohol abuse, had made him leave the scene.
Pressed by the noblewomen and annoyed by the return of a forgotten past, Russo returns to London. And he resumes playing concerts. But Laura, the young countess in love with him, joins him and does everything she can not lose him, after escaping from the alcohol abuse, had made him leave the scene.
Pressed by the noblewomen and annoyed by the return of a forgotten past, Russo returns to London. And he resumes playing concerts. But Laura, the young countess in love with him, joins him and does everything she can not lose him, after escaping from the alcohol abuse, had made him leave the scene.
Pressed by the noblewomen and annoyed by the return of a forgotten past, Russo returns to London. And he resumes playing concerts. But Laura, the young countess in love with him, joins him and does everything she can not lose him, after escaping from the aristocratic environment that rejected him.
“Il maestro di violino” was shot in three countries: in Italy in Perugia, in Israel in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and in the United Kingdom in London. Starring Domenico Modugno (1928-1994) and Rena Niehaus (1954-).
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno (9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, and later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)”. He is considered the first Italian cantautore (Singer-songwriter, musicians who write, compose and perform their own musical material including lyrics and melodies.
As opposed to contemporary pop music singers who write or co-write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the folk-acoustic tradition. Singer-songwriters often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano; both the compositions and the arrangements are written primarily as solo vehicles, with the material angled toward topical issues, sometimes political, sometimes introspective, sensitive, romantic, and confessional).
Related: Charles Aznavour – La Bohème
Sources
- Domenico Modugno on Wikipedia
- Singer-songwriter on Wikipedia