Coppola hired Italian composer Nino Rota to create the underscore for the film, including "Love Theme from The Godfather".[154][155] For the score, Rota was to relate to the situations and characters in the film.[154][155] Rota synthesized new music for the film and took some parts from his 1958 Fortunella film score, in order to create an Italian feel and evoke the tragedy within the film.[156] Paramount executive Evans found the score to be too "highbrow" and did not want to use it; however, it was used after Coppola managed to get Evans to agree.[154][155] Coppola believed that Rota's musical piece gave the film even more of an Italian feel.[155] Coppola's father, Carmine, created some additional music for the film,[157] particularly the music played by the band during the opening wedding scene.[155][156]
Incidental music includes "C'è la luna mezzo mare" and Cherubino's aria, "Non so più cosa son", from Le Nozze di Figaro.[156] There was a soundtrack released for the film in 1972 in vinyl form by Paramount Records, on CD in 1991 by Geffen Records, and digitally by Geffen on August 18, 2005.[158] The album contains over 31 minutes of music that was used in the film, most of which was composed by Rota, along with a song from Coppola and one by Johnny Farrow and Marty Symes.[159][160][161] AllMusic gave the album five out of five, with editor Zach Curd saying it is a "dark, looming, and elegant soundtrack".[159] An editor for Filmtracks believed that Rota was successful in relating the music to the film's core aspects.[161]
