Salvatore Cardillo (20 February 1874 – 5 February 1947) was anItalian-American composer. Born inNaples, he studied piano and composition in Italy before emigrating in 1903 to the United States as a university graduate. His career encompassed songwriting and movie music. He died in New York.

Salvatore Cardillo
Salvatore Cadillo, 1928
Born	Salvatore Cardillo (1874-02-20)February 20, 1874 Naples, Italy
Died	February 5, 1947(1947-02-05) (aged 72) New York City

Cardillo's richly scored and still popular 1911 romanceCore 'ngrato (Ungrateful Heart) — also known by its lyricCatarì, Catarì, pecchè me dici sti parole amare — was written in America to a text inNeapolitan by Alessandro Sisca (Riccardo Cordiferro); it is in fact the only famous Neapolitan song by anItalian-American immigrant. The song's first exponent was the operatic tenorEnrico Caruso, but it is not clear whether he commissioned it.Franco Corelli,Luciano Pavarotti,Giuseppe di Stefano,José Carreras and, more recently,Roberto Alagna andJonas Kaufmann are among the tenors to have includedCore 'ngrato in their repertories.

The composer also wrote the songsBarcarola, to a text by Edoardo San Giovanni, andOi luna (O Silvery Moon), to a text by Riccardo Cordiferro. These were published in 1921 as "Two Neapolitan Songs" by G. Schirmer Inc. in New York.

• Sciorra, Joseph. “Diasporic Musings on Veracity and Uncertainties of ‘Core ‘ngrato’,” "Neapolitan Postcards: The Canzone Napoletana as Transnational Subject," Ed. Goffredo Plastino and Joseph Sciorra. (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2016), 115–150.
• Frasca, Simona. “Italian Birds of Passage: The Diaspora of Neapolitan Musicians in New York,” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
• Laird, Ross, et al., eds (2001).Brunswick Records: A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931. Westport: Greenwood Press.
• Lavery, David (2002).Investigating the Sopranos. New York: Columbia University Press..