Rosanna: Love Theme (for violin and guitars) (1962)
(from Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man)

Based on Ernest Hemingway’s first bestseller The Nick Adams Stories, Jerry Wald’s production, directed by Martin Ritt, represents a journey on two different levels. The physical journey charts Nick Adams’ flight from his home in Michigan to New York to World War I Italy and back home again, while the emotional journey covers the hazardous road from boyhood to maturity and understanding. 

The “Rosanna” of the music, dramatically etched on the violin, is an Italian nurse, played by Susan Strasberg, with whom Nick, played by Richard Beymer, has a tragic love affair. In the opening shots, we see Rosanna pushing Nick along the river in a wheelchair. As the ‘bridge’ part of the theme is heard, Rosanna shows Nick her special places, including her family archives and talks of her childhood. A dramatic five-note motive on both guitars interrupts the flow as Rosanna shows Nick the tomb of Juliet (both the music and the allusion to the Shakespearean play foreshadow the tragedy to come). Rosanna’s theme returns in a brief rhapsody for guitars before the violin overtakes the theme again and carries it to a spiritual and emotionally overpowering conclusion, as she makes a wish for Nick by throwing a coin in the “wishing fountain.”

“Rosanna’s Love Theme” was recorded by the arranger, with William Kanengiser, guitar, and Jordon Darlov, violin, as part of the CD You Must Remember This.