Francesco De Masi

Francesco De Masi (1930 - 2005) was born in Rome and studied Composition at the Neapolitan Conservatory of music. Besides a successful career with orchestras and conducting (winning RAI'S "Young conductors" award in 1968), he started writing film music in 1955, mostly for Italian genre cinema - Spy films, Sword & sandal films and spaghetti westerns. As directors moved on to other genres in the 70s and 80s, he wrote for Gialli, Poliziotti/Crime films, and cheap, Hollywood-imitating B-movie actioners.

Besides a successful career with orchestras and conducting (winning RAI'S "Young conductors" award in 1968), he started writing film music in 1955, mostly for Italian genre cinema - Spy films, Sword & sandal films and spaghetti westerns. As directors moved on to other genres in the 70s and 80s, he wrote for Gialli, Poliziotti/Crime films, and cheap, Hollywood-imitating B-movie actioners.

Alongside with Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani and Piero Piccioni, Francesco De Masi was one of the most influential forces behind Italian film music at the end of the 20th century.