''Life Is Beautiful'' is the original soundtrack album, on the

Virgin Records America Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

label, of the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning film ''

Life Is Beautiful ''Life Is Beautiful'' ( it, La vita è bella, ) is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who emplo ...

'' (original title: ''La vita è bella''), starring

Roberto Benigni Roberto Remigio Benigni (; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing and starring in the Holocaust comedy-drama film ''Life Is Beautiful'' (1997), f ...

(who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as "Guido Orefice" in this film),

Nicoletta Braschi Nicoletta Braschi (; born 19 April 1960) is an Italian actress and producer, best known for her work with her husband, actor and director Roberto Benigni. Life and career Born in Cesena, Braschi studied in Rome, Rome's Academy of Dramatic Arts ...

and Giustino Durano. The original score was composed by

Nicola Piovani Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1998 Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar for the score of the Roberto Benigni film ''La Vita è bella'', better known to ...

, with the exception of a classical piece which figures prominently: the "

Barcarolle A barcarolle (; from French, also barcarole; originally, Italian barcarola or barcaruola, from ''barca'' 'boat') is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the mo ...

" by

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ' ...

. The album won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

: "Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media", but lost to the score of ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks written by

, except where noted. #Buon Giorno Principessa 3:29 #La vita è bella 2:46 #Viva Giosuè 1:19 #Grand Hotel Valse 1:57 #La notte di favola 2:32 #La notte di fuga 3:49 #Le uova nel capello 1:07 #Grand Hotel Fox 1:55 #Il treno nel buio 2:19 #Arriva il carro armato 1:04 #Valse Larmoyante 2:03 #L'uovo di struzzo-danza etiope 1:53 #Krautentang 2:46 #Il gioco di Giosuè 1:45 #

(

) 3:54 #Guido e Ferruccio 2:26 #Abbiamo vinto 3:03 *Total Time: 40:07 1997 soundtrack albums Classical music soundtracks Comedy-drama film soundtracks Virgin Records soundtracks Concept albums Scores that won the Best Original Score Academy Award {{soundtrack-album-stub