Stelvio Cipriani
Italian composer (1937–2018)
Stelvio Cipriani (20 August 1937 – 1 October 2018), also known as Viostel, was an Italian composer, mostly of motion picture soundtracks, conductor and pianist.
Biography
Though not raised with a strong musical upbringing, as a child Cipriani was fascinated by his church's organ. His priest gave Cipriani his first music lessons and encouraged the boy and his family. Cipriani attended the Santa Cecilia Conservatory starting at the age of 14. Around this time, he played in cruise ship bands, enabling him to meet Dave Brubeck. Upon returning to Italy, he began working as piano accompaniment for Rita Pavone.
Cipriani's first soundtrack was for the Spaghetti Western The Bounty Killer (1966). This was followed by his more widely known score for The Stranger Returns (a 1967 film, also known by the alternate titles A Man, a Horse, a Gun and Shoot First, Laugh Last, starring Tony Anthony). Cipriani would go on to compose other Spaghetti Western scores and also began composing poliziottesco soundtracks.
Cipriani became prolific in the Italian film world, eventually garnering a Nastro d'Argento for Best Score award for The Anonymous Venetian (1970).
The public source identifies “Stelvio Cipriani” as italian composer (1937–2018). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Stelvio, Cipriani and Italian.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q921058. VIAF identifies the subject as 17407029. The Library of Congress control number is n78067268. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1937, 2018, 1966 and 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stelvio Cipriani” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.