Carlo Giorgio Garofalo was born on 5^th August 1886 in Rome, where he studied composition, organ, and other disciplines with Stanslao Falchi, Cesare de Sanctis, Remigio Renzi, and Salvatore Saija with the last of whom he shared a position as organist in the main synagogue in Rome for 22 years. Immediately after his graduation from the conservatory, he spent two years in the United States, working as the music director of one of Bostons cathedrals.

Like many of his Italian contemporaries, Garofalo directed his efforts mainly to composing sacred music for both choir and organ. His Masses were performed in the principal cathedrals of Rome, Milan, Bergamo, Monza and other Italian cities, but apart from that he left a considerable body of work composed in all secular musical genres. The circumstances of his life, however, did not permit him to reach either a wide audience, or the attention of the critics.