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Gino Marinuzzi Jr: Electronics and Early Multimedia Mentality in Italy

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Maurizio Corbella at University of Milan
Maurizio Corbella
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Abstract and Figures

In this essay I propose to consider the complex convergences between electronic music and media practices in Rome in the 1950s and 1960s, by reconstructing the experience of an almost forgotten figure, composer Gino Marinuzzi Jr (1920-96). One of the reasons that led me to deal with Marinuzzi is the fact that his engagement with technology as a structuring device of compositional processes is paramount, and brings to the fore crucial issues of 'applied' music's problematic reputation in the Italian cultural debate. In reviewing Marinuzzi's biography over the period 1949-75 – which covers the overall time-span of his activity as a composer –, my goal is to exemplify the key phases of this transitional period in Italian music history, in which technology, through the growth of media and their increasing importance in cultural representations, came to constitute a new value of musical activity and at the same time renewed old aesthetic questions concerning the autonomy of music.
Spectrogram of Track 17, Reel 33 (online audio resource no. 1), with a detail of the ostinato sample as heard singularly in Track 16 (in the square, online audio resource no. 2). The software used throughout the essay for spectrograms and sound analysis is Sonic Visualiser, v. 2.4.1, developed by at Queen Mary, University of London <> (11/14). Online audio resource: <>.
Spectrogram of Track 17, Reel 33 (online audio resource no. 1), with a detail of the ostinato sample as heard singularly in Track 16 (in the square, online audio resource no. 2). The software used throughout the essay for spectrograms and sound analysis is Sonic Visualiser, v. 2.4.1, developed by at Queen Mary, University of London <> (11/14). Online audio resource: <>.
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Spectrogram of Track 2, Reel 22 (online audio resource no. 3). The numbers correspond to the indexes of preparatory tracks collected on Reel 16, which served as the basis for the construction of the opening titles. The vertical lines mark the macro-segmentation (matching respectively with Tracks 15, 16 and 2 of Reel 16 , online audio resources nos. 4, 5 and 6), while the horizontal lines highlight, by track index, recurrent single elements that can be identified in the preparatory reel. Online audio resource: <>.
Spectrogram of Track 2, Reel 22 (online audio resource no. 3). The numbers correspond to the indexes of preparatory tracks collected on Reel 16, which served as the basis for the construction of the opening titles. The vertical lines mark the macro-segmentation (matching respectively with Tracks 15, 16 and 2 of Reel 16 , online audio resources nos. 4, 5 and 6), while the horizontal lines highlight, by track index, recurrent single elements that can be identified in the preparatory reel. Online audio resource: <>.
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Spectrograms of channels 1-2, Track 15, Reel 16 (online audio resource no. 4). Vertical lines signal the attack of each different sound object, which I labeled similarly to orchestral functions. The asterisk signals that the same sound object can be found in Dialoghi nell’infinito. Online audio resource: <>.
Spectrograms of channels 1-2, Track 15, Reel 16 (online audio resource no. 4). Vertical lines signal the attack of each different sound object, which I labeled similarly to orchestral functions. The asterisk signals that the same sound object can be found in Dialoghi nell’infinito. Online audio resource: <>.
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Reel 18, box ( verso ), FMN.
Reel 18, box ( verso ), FMN.
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Brochure, [ca. 1968], GMC, with details of the Fonosynth (probably second version). The assumption on the date is made possible by the list of works included in the first page, the most recent of which date 1968 ( Amore o qualcosa del genere , D.B. Partesano; Matchless , A. Lattuada). The fact that Jekyll (G. Albertazzi 1969) is not mentioned suggests that the brochure is prior to its realisation. The only unidentified title is Cuori umani .
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Brochure, [ca. 1968], GMC, with details of the Fonosynth (probably second version). The assumption on the date is made possible by the list of works included in the first page, the most recent of which date 1968 ( Amore o qualcosa del genere , D.B. Partesano; Matchless , A. Lattuada). The fact that Jekyll (G. Albertazzi 1969) is not mentioned suggests that the brochure is prior to its realisation. The only unidentified title is Cuori umani .
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111 Il brigante (V. Zaganelli 1969); Sopralluogo filmati per una lettura dei racconti malesi di
  • Jan 1970
  • 51
  • See L Pizzaleo
See L. Pizzaleo, Musica elettroacustica a Roma, cit., pp. 51fn, 84. 111 Il brigante (V. Zaganelli 1969); Sopralluogo filmati per una lettura dei racconti malesi di J. Conrad (2 episodes, G. Moser 1970); All'arrembaggio, tigrotti di Mompracen – Appunti durante un viaggio in Borneo alla ricerca di Emilio Salgari (G. Moser 1971). 112 Reissued on CD by Cometa Edizioni Musicali CMT 10040 2013.
Quaderni della Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia), pp. 30-48. The other composers contributing to the chapter were Nicola Costarelli (b. 1911)
  • Jan 1950
  • 1900-78
  • E Masetti
E. Masetti (a cura di), La musica nel film, Bianco e Nero, Roma 1950 (Quaderni della Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Venezia), pp. 30-48. The other composers contributing to the chapter were Nicola Costarelli (b. 1911), Giuseppe Rosati (1903-62), Vincenzo Tommasini (1878-1950) and Antonio Veretti (1900-78).
Musica elettroacustica a Roma, cit
  • 84
  • See L Pizzaleo
See L. Pizzaleo, Musica elettroacustica a Roma, cit., pp. 51fn, 84.
Vento del sud (E. Provenzale 1959), L'Italia non è un paese povero (Italy is not a Poor Country
  • Jan 1960
A tentative list of Marinuzzi's titles post-produced at Fonolux would have to include: Grandes Murailles (G. Guerrasio 1957), Vento del sud (E. Provenzale 1959), L'Italia non è un paese povero (Italy is not a Poor Country, J. Ivens 1960), Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide (Hercules and the Captive Women, V. Cottafavi 1961), Il giudizio universale (The Last Judgement, V. De Sica 1961), Kanjut Sar (G. Guerrasio 1961), Marte, dio della guerra (The Son of Hercules vs. Venus, M. Baldi 1962).