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Manuel De Sica, 1949-2014
Composer Manuel De Sica died in Rome on December 5, 2014, at the age of 65, following a heart attack.
The son of legendary director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader, he established an identity independent of his celebrated family through a career encompassing more than 70 film scores, television music, concert works and popular songs. His best-known films included The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The Icicle Thief, Al lupo Al lupo, Cemetery Man, and Celluloide.
Manuel De Sica was born in Rome on February 24, 1949. He studied music from childhood and attended the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia, where his teachers included the influential modernist composer Bruno Maderna. Although surrounded by cinema—his father was one of the defining figures of Italian neorealism—De Sica initially pursued music on its own terms, developing interests in both classical composition and contemporary popular styles. In 1969 he formed the pop group The Ancients, with whom he appeared on Italian television.
His entrance into film music nevertheless came through his father. De Sica made his feature debut at just 19 with A Place for Lovers (1968), starring Faye Dunaway and Marcello Mastroianni. Their most important collaboration followed with The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970), Vittorio De Sica’s acclaimed adaptation of Giorgio Bassani’s novel about an aristocratic Jewish family living under Fascism. Manuel’s elegant, melancholy score brought him international attention and a Grammy nomination, while the film itself won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Read more…
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