Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an influential Italian composer, pianist, and writer, born on April 3, 1895, in Florence, Italy. He hailed from a prominent Sephardi Jewish family that had resided in Tuscany for over 400 years, tracing their roots back to refugees from the Spanish Expulsion in 1492. His father, Amedeo, and his mother, Noemi Senigaglia, introduced him to music at an early age, with his mother teaching him piano. By the age of nine, Castelnuovo-Tedesco was already composing music.

He pursued formal musical education at the Institute Musicale Cherubini in Florence, earning a degree in piano in 1914 and a diploma in composition in 1918 from the Liceo Musicale di Bologna. He studied composition under the renowned Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti. His early work caught the attention of composer Alfredo Casella, who helped promote Castelnuovo-Tedesco's compositions throughout Europe.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco's first major work was the opera "La Mandragola," based on a play by Niccolò Machiavelli, which premiered in 1926 and won the Concorso Lirico Nazionale prize. His compositions were often inspired by great literature, including works by Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Virgil, and others, as well as his Jewish heritage, notably the Bible and Jewish liturgy.

In 1932, he met Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia, which inspired him to write extensively for the guitar, resulting in nearly 100 compositions for the instrument. His Guitar Concerto No. 1, composed in 1939, is among his notable works for the guitar.

Facing rising anti-Semitism and the promulgation of racial laws in Italy, Castelnuovo-Tedesco emigrated to the United States in 1939. There, he became a prolific film composer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, contributing to around 200 Hollywood films over fifteen years, though he was often uncredited or listed as a "contributing composer."

Throughout his career, Castelnuovo-Tedesco rejected the modernist and theoretical trends of his time, favoring a musical approach informed by extramusical ideas, including his Italian heritage, literary interests, and Jewish spiritual roots. He passed away on March 16, 1968, leaving behind a rich legacy, particularly in the realm of guitar music.