The Italian composer Paolo Buonvino dived deep into the musical heritage of his native Sicily to create the score for Netflix’s lush “The Leopard” series, which won steadily worldwide fans since she dropped in March.
The high-end period, which marks the biggest splash of the streamer in Italy so far, is a modern view of the classic Sicily set novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Against the background of the social revolution in Sicily from the 1860s, it was adapted famous in a film by Luchino Visconti with Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster. The film, now an Italian cinema classic, won the Palme d’Or from 1963 at the Cannes Film Festival.
The series is led by the Great Britain-Tom Shankland and the Stars Top Model Deva Cassel-Die Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter Is-As Angelica Sedara, the amazing woman from the middle class who becomes a catalyst and was played by Cardinal in the original. Kim Rossi Stewart from Italy (“Romanzo Criminal”) plays Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, who was played in the masterpiece film by Lancaster; While Saul Nanni (“Love & Gelato”) plays the leading role as the cousin Tancredi Falconeri of the Prince, played by Delon in the film. Benedetta Porcaroli (“Baby”) plays Concetta, his cousin who is madly in love with Tancredi.
Buonvino, known for his work with top Italian directors such as Gabriele Muccino, Paolo Virzi and Roberto Faenza, took a lot of ethnomusicological research and immersed himself in the musical traditions of his homeland. “From that time I investigated songs, instruments and historical sources,” he says.
Below, Buonvino speaks to Variety About how he put his mark on this Italian classic.
Simply put, did you feel intimidated by this task?
I felt enormous responsibility, yes, especially because the novel is a European literary classic. Moreover, it takes place on Sicily and I am Sicilian, so I wanted to stay stereotypes away. Then there is clearly the fact that the film adjustment of Visconti [with a score by Nino Rota] Is so iconic.
Talk to me about recording the essence of Sicily. Of course there is history besides the sensuality. How did you navigate all of that?
When I was called to do this work, I came up with the following thoughts: First of all I want to display the island where the story takes place, as if you can smell it through the music. Secondly, I imagined how I wanted to portray the prince’s family, with his ties with the bourgeoisie and the other nobles and what was going on historically. And third we showed a revolution that has two aspects: one has to do with [Giuseppe] Garibaldi and his conquest of Sicily who led to the unification of Italy. The other is the sociological revolution that Don Calogero Sedara sees [father of Angelica, played by Cassel] who climbs the social ladder and eroding power from the aristocracy. Moreover, there is a kind of mysticism that I wanted to record tied to the prince and seek his soul, especially towards the end.
Talk to me about how your work on Sicilian musical history germinated compositions for the score of the show.
There have been two traditional Sicilian songs produced by my research: one is “Spunta Lu Suli”, the first song in the show. It is a love song about a very strong desire for another person who fell for two reasons. One is that it is sung by a woman who was quite unusual in Sicily before that time. This passionate love in the [Visconti] Film is told by the figure of Concetta, who rebels against her father and is a very idiosyncratic. But there is another aspect of this falling in love, the prince who looks at his country, Sicily, with the eyes of a lover. Then there is the song “Si Fussi Aceddu” with which the show ends, when Concetta takes the family. I chose this piece as a closer, instead a piece about family – that a waltz or something could have been heroic – because it is sung by a woman. Again, the song is about a very strong desire to fall in love. And I thought it was good because Concetta gave up love in “The Leopard”. I loved the idea of expressing the idea that she says: “Ok, I will take the reins of the family – but my heart would like to take the reins of something bigger, which is with my loved one.”
And now the waltz in the dance scene, the iconic moment of the film. How did you deal with that?
I told Tom: “I would like to put it together myself.” Not because of an ego thing. But because in that dance I want to catch the essence of “The Leopard” and his life. I liked the idea that this dance could be cathartic, even in music. As if the prince could rewind the tape of his life while he danced, and it was not only a joyful or a sterile – albeit very beautiful – waltz, but something connected to his existence. So I told Tom these things and asked him to listen to the beginning of what I had in mind, whatever I had steeped in Sicily. He told me, “We are twins!” It coincided with his vision. So we used that as our starting point.
Netflix
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.