Romolo Bacchini
Romolo Bacchini in the 1920s
Born
Romolo Bachini

(1872-04-11)11 April 1872
Rome, Italy
Died(1938-03-27)27 March 1938
Rome, Italy
Occupation(s)Director, musician, writer, painter
Years active1893–1938

Romolo Bacchini, also credited as Bachini (11 April 1872 – 27 March 1938)[1] was a filmmaker, musician, painter and Italian dialect poet, who spent his career during the silent film era.

Biography

The processing of the cartoon "The Adventures of Pinocchio".

Born Romolo Bachini in Rome, Bacchini, as he later spelled it, was one of the pioneers of Italian silent cinema, directing, and sometimes acting in, more than 50 films. Some have been lost while others were recovered and restored, such as La leggenda dell'edelweiss, of which coils and the original screenplay have been found by researchers of the Museo internazionale del cinema e dello spettacolo [it] (MICS) (International museum of film and entertainment), in 1988.

In 1909 he moved to Naples, where the fledgling movie company Vesuvio Films [it] gave him the artistic direction of its productions. In the capital of Campania he directed many of his movies, among them the historical short film Corradino di Svevia (L'ultimo degli Hohenstaufen) [it], one of the first Italian movies to be set in the Middle Ages.[2]

In 1936, as art director for CAIR (Cartoni Animati Italiani Roma), he directed The Adventures of Pinocchio, which is believed to be the first animated film dedicated to the novel by Carlo Collodi.[3]

Complete filmography

Directed movies

"Lo Spettro Vendicatore" (1914), in which Romolo Bacchini played both as actor and director.
Wearing top in "Lo Spettro Vendicatore" (1914).
The playbill of "La portatrice di pane" (1911).

Director of photography

Starred movies

Music

An advertising playbill for the operetta "L'incognita dell'oasi" (1920 ca.).

He graduated in composition and direction at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella [it] in Naples, and was a composer (he wrote several operas), director and conductor of the orchestra.[4] He wrote plenty of accompanying music for films and was the first musician in the history of cinema to have composed – in 1905 – specifically created music to accompany a movie ("La Malìa dell'oro", by Filoteo Alberini).[5][6][7][8]

List of musical works (partial)

Directed operas

Poetry

Contemporary and friend of poet and writer Augusto Jandolo [it], with him he was part of the "Gruppo dei Romanisti" as well as other intellectuals and artists who, during the charming times of Caffé Greco, animated the cultural salons of Rome. He wrote many poetical compositions, revealing himself as particularly inclined into poems, verses and sonnets in Roman dialect. In 1929 he wrote "Er Natale de Roma [it]",[9][10] a poem in blank verse and quatrains, all in Roman dialect, dealing with the birth of Rome and illustrated by the painter-ceramicist Romeo Berardi.

References

  1. ^ "Immagine 36 / Image 36 [ Birth certificate no 1169 serial A]" (in Italian). Archivio di Stato di Roma / States Archives in Rome > Antenati: Gli Archivi per la Ricerca Anagrafica / Ancestors: Archives for Research Registry. 16 April 1872. Retrieved 9 November 2016. Birth name Romolo Bachini.
  2. ^ Vito Attolini (1993). Immagini del Medioevo nel cinema. Edizioni Dedalo srl. p. 239. ISBN 9788822050281.
  3. ^ Roberto Chiti, Enrico Lancia (2005). Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film. Vol. 1. Gremese Editore. p. 42. ISBN 9788884403513.
  4. ^ Alberto De Angelis (1918). L'Italia musicale d'oggi: Dizionario dei musicisti. Ausonia. p. 17.
  5. ^ Pasquale Iaccio (2000). Cinema e storia: percorsi, immagini, testimonianze. Liguori Editore Srl. p. 158. ISBN 9788820727932.
  6. ^ Mario Verdone (2005). Drammaturgia e arte totale: l'avanguardia internazionale : autori, teorie, opere. Rubbettino Editore. p. 314. ISBN 9788849810820.
  7. ^ Guido Aristarco (1996). Il cinema fascista: il prima e il dopo. Edizioni Dedalo. p. 34. ISBN 9788822050328.
  8. ^ Elena Mosconi (2006). L'impressione del film. Contributi per una storia culturale del cinema italiano 1895–1945. Casa Editrice Vita e Pensiero. p. 152. ISBN 9788834313275.
  9. ^ Marcello Teodonio (2001). Il classico nella letteratura romanesca del Novecento: miti, modelli, memoria. Fondazione Marco Besso. pp. 87–107.
  10. ^ Giulio Vaccaro (2007). Un libbro va, uno viè: bibliografia della letteratura romanesca dal 1870 al Duemila. Aracne. p. 38. ISBN 9788854810471.
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