He did noted work on the fountains of Rome (8)
I believe the answer is:
respighi
'fountains of rome' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'he did noted work on' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'he' could be 'hi' and 'hi' is located in the answer.
'on' could be 're' ('on' can be mean 'with reference to') and 're' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for respighi that I've seen before include "Irish peg, oddly, for the Italian composer" , "Italian barman" , "Ottorino -, Ital. composer (The Pines of Rome)" , "Italian composer of symphonic poems, d. 1936 - hire pigs (anag)" , "he scored!" .)