Carmine Coppola

1910 - 1991  (80 years)    Has one ancestor and 15 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Carmine Coppola
  Birth	11 Jul 1910	New York, New York, USA
  Gender	Male
  Death	26 Apr 1991	Northridge, California, USA
  Siblings	2 Siblings
  1. Archimedes Coppola,   b. 1909   d. 1926  (Age 17 years) + 2. Carmine Coppola,   b. 11 Jul 1910, New York, New York, USA d. 26 Apr 1991, Northridge, California, USA  (Age 80 years) ▻ Italia Pennino + 3. Anton Coppola,   b. 1917   d. Yes, date unknown ▻ NN;   NN
  Person ID	I380331	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	4 Jul 2002

  
  

  Father	August Coppola   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F151268	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Italia Pennino,   b. Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, USA d. Yes, date unknown
  Children	+ 1. August Coppola   d. Yes, date unknown + 2. Living + 3. Living
  Family ID	F151264	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Jul 2002

  
  

• Event Map	Click to hide
  		Birth - 11 Jul 1910 - New York, New York, USA  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos

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• Notes

  Flautist and film scorist Studied flute and composition at Juilliard and later at the Manhattan School of Music. For a long time Coppola worked under Arturo Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra. Later he went on to score several films for his son Francis Ford Coppola, including Godfather, Part II (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979). second of seven brothers, was a natural musician and when he was 8 years old was given a wooden flute. Soon he was a member of a 400-boy marching band, and then a student at Stuyvesant High before winning a scholarship to Juilliard. Upon graduating from Juilliard, Carmine married Brooklyn-born Italia Pennino, whose father was a Neapolitan songwriter. After a stint with a radio station in Connecticut, followed by several years with the Radio City Music Hall orchestra as first flute, Carmine joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. From 1941-51 he played for Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony, at the time the most prestigious orchestra in America, before leaving to pursue his life long dream to compose. His dream took some time to be realized. He directed opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and was the road conductor for the David Merrick Orchestra, conducting such Broadway hits as Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, 110 in the Shade and Kismet. In 1967 while conducting the touring company of Half a Sixpence, he was called by his son Francis to work on the score for the movie version of Finian's Rainbow. The film flopped but Francis dreamed of collaborating with his father and in 1971, came the project that confirmed Francis as a director, and offered Carmine his main chance as a composer: The Godfather. Carmine went on to win an Oscar for co-scoring (with Nino Rota) The Godfather Part II. In addition, he composed the music for Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Gardens of Stone and The Black Stallion, and was nominated for a Best Song Oscar for "Promise Me You'll Remember" from The Godfather Part III. But perhaps his greatest triumph was the original score he wrote for Abel Gance's silent 1920s classic Napoleon starring Albert Dieudonne - over 3 1/2 hours of music. The sheet music weighed 150 pounds. Of the work Carmine said, "how lucky I am to write the score for a 'silent' film. No dialogue or sound effects to stop for - just four hours of wall to wall music - interweaving themes almost like an opera I believe Napoleon is one of the greatest films ever made." The critics seem to agree with him. The restored epic opened in January 1981 before 6,000 people at New York's Radio City Music Hall, and has since thrilled audiences around the world. Carmine died in 1991 leaving behind a remarkable legacy, perhaps best illustrated in his acceptance speech when he received his Oscar in April 1975 for The Godfather: "I want to thank my son Francis, because without him I wouldn't be here," he said. "But then if I wasn't here, he wouldn't be, either."