Tempo Di Demoni: when library music met demonic rock opera
Library music is an incredibly broad section of the musical landscape, encompassing everything from experimental soundscapes to television sound effects. In essence, library records exist as a way for media producers to provide cheap and abundant soundtracks to their work. As a result, many library LPs are made up of pretty middle-of-the-road, generic music, but that did not stop a few pioneering figures, like Stefano Marcucci, from using the format to create pioneering and bizarre works.
Marcucci was among the most celebrated and prolific composers of Italian library records during the 1970s, which is often celebrated as a ‘golden age’ for the format. This era coincided with a particularly exciting time for Italian cinema, particularly low-budget horror films, which have always gone hand-in-hand with library LPs due to the cheap abundance of soundtracks they provide. Marcucci’s work lent itself particularly well to the dark atmosphere of horror, both on film and, curiously, on the stage.
In fact, back in 1975 the Roman composer was commissioned to construct a soundtrack to the outlandish theatre production Tempo Di Demoni, Papi, Angioli, Incensi E Cilici. The Italophiles among you will already be aware that the title of the production translates to Time of Demons, Popes, Angels, Incense, and Cilices – a catchy title if ever we have heard one.
The bizarre and curiously short-lived theatre production was bankrolled by the Tourism and Entertainment Department for the region of Lazio in Italy, which sheds some light on why Marcucci was chosen for the project. After all, the composer was born and raised in Rome and continued to contribute to the local music scene well into his adulthood.
Very little remains from the production other than its soundtrack, perhaps due to the short-lived nature of the work. However, we do know that Tempo Di Demoni, Papi, Angioli, Incensi E Cilici was a religious-themed rock opera largely concerned with ideas of hell and demonic forces. Even for the cultural revolution that occurred during the 1970s in Italy, that description should be enough to tell you that this play was fairly out there.
Although the theatre production itself was short-lived, the soundtrack which resulted from it became a cult collector’s item within the niche world of library music. This should probably come as no surprise; after all, if you were flicking through a bin of banal library music and suddenly came across an LP adorned with a cartoon of a red-faced pop clutching a sickle while standing in flames, you would buy it instantly. However, it was not just the rarity or the strange circumstances of the record that led to it becoming highly sought-after.
The music encased on the record is some of the greatest soundtracking of the period, blending grand, orchestral arrangements with prog-influenced electronica and some genuinely harrowing soundscapes. Marucci’s record, created alongside obscure pianist Luciano Bellini, lends itself naturally to horror films as well as to the diverse world of experimental composition.
Unlike many cult library LPs of the 1970s, original copies of Tempo Di Demoni, Papi, Angioli, Incensi E Cilici are not impossible to come across, as they were initially published by the incredibly popular library label Flower. Granted, it would cost you upwards of £150 to get your hands on a copy, and you would likely have to travel to Italy, but that pales in comparison to some of the extortionate prices obscure library records are able to fetch in the current climate.
