Pino Donaggio as Film Composer
See also: Pino Donaggio (Blow Out), Pino Donaggio (Body Double)
Pino Donaggio scored over two hundred films and television productions across a career spanning five decades, beginning with Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973). He is best known for his long collaboration with Brian De Palma and for his work in horror and thriller cinema. (wikipedia, imdb)
Donaggio was a pop star before he was a film composer
Before film, Donaggio was a classically trained violinist turned pop singer-songwriter. His 1965 composition "Io che non vivo senza te" — recorded in English by Dusty Springfield as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" and later by Elvis Presley — sold 80 million records worldwide. He abandoned pop music gradually after 1973 to devote himself to scoring. (wikipedia, mfiles)
Critics recognized a distinctive early voice that the Herrmann comparisons later obscured
Donaggio's early scores established a signature style that set him apart from other thriller composers.
"Early on, Donaggio had established a distinct and recognizable musical voice all his own, characterized by lyrical melodies — usually for woodwinds backed by guitar or piano — juxtaposed against suspense cues provided by jarring chords and sharply sustained string lines." — Encyclopedia.com — Donaggio, Pino
But the De Palma collaboration — six deliberately Hitchcockian thrillers between 1976 and 1992 — invited a comparison that defined and constrained his reputation.
"Pino Donaggio's association with Brian De Palma on a number of the director's deliberately Hitchcockian thrillers has led to the composer's being compared to Bernard Herrmann, and inevitably coming up the loser." — Encyclopedia.com — Donaggio, Pino
The assessment is blunt: by working in Herrmann's idiom for De Palma, Donaggio traded his own voice for an unflattering comparison.
"By employing Herrmannesque orchestrations and compositional elements in his subsequent work for De Palma, Donaggio has significantly muted this early voice, becoming a sort of ersatz-Herrmann instead — and, therefore, complicit in the negative comparison that haunts him." — Encyclopedia.com — Donaggio, Pino
The Herrmann comparison began because Herrmann died during the De Palma collaboration
Bernard Herrmann scored De Palma's Sisters (1973) and Obsession (1976) before dying in December 1975. De Palma turned to Donaggio for Carrie (1976), reportedly temp-tracking the film with Herrmann's Psycho score to guide the new composer toward the sound he wanted. Donaggio has been replacing Herrmann for De Palma ever since. (encyclopedia, mfiles)
Donaggio's work outside De Palma shows a different composer
Beyond the De Palma thrillers, Donaggio scored films for Nicolas Roeg, Joe Dante (Piranha, The Howling), Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento, along with Italian comedies, dramas, and television. The encyclopedia assessment concludes that this broader body of work reveals the "real — i.e., non-Herrmann — Donaggio," and that recognition of his individual, lyrical style may come as the Herrmann comparisons fade. (encyclopedia)
Awards recognized his body of work late in his career
Donaggio won two Italian Golden Globe Awards and received nominations for the David di Donatello, Nastro d'Argento, Golden Ciak, and Saturn Award. The major career honors came late: a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy in 2012, and a Career Award from the Venice Film Festival in 2015. (wikipedia, worldsoundtrackawards)
He has remained a resident of Venice throughout his career, and has said in interviews that he sometimes regrets not moving to Hollywood when he had the opportunity. (imdb)