Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone OMRI[1] (Italian: [ˈɛnnjo morriˈkoːne]; 10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classical works, Morricone is widely considered one of the most prolific and greatest film composers of all time.[2][3] He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, eleven Nastro d'Argento, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and the Polar Music Prize in 2010.
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
- Maestro
- Dan Savio
- Leo Nichols
10 November 1928
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
6 July 2020 (aged 91)
Rome, Italy
- Composer
- orchestrator
- conductor
- musician
- producer
Trumpet, piano
1946–2020
His filmography includes more than 70 award-winning films, all Sergio Leone's films since A Fistful of Dollars, all Giuseppe Tornatore's films since Cinema Paradiso, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, as well as The Battle of Algiers (1968), 1900 (1976), La Cage aux Folles (1978), Le Professionnel (1981), The Thing (1982), and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989). He received Academy Award for Best Original Score nominations for Days of Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991), Malèna (2000) and The Hateful Eight (2015), winning for the latter.[4] He won the Academy Honorary Award in 2007.[5] His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is regarded as one of the most recognizable and influential soundtracks in history.[6] It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[7]
After playing the trumpet in jazz bands in the 1940s, he became a studio arranger for RCA Victor and in 1955 started ghost writing for film and theatre.[8] Throughout his career, he composed music for artists such as Paul Anka, Mina, Milva, Zucchero, and Andrea Bocelli. From 1960 to 1975, Morricone gained international fame for composing music for Westerns and—with an estimated 10 million copies sold—Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best-selling scores worldwide.[9] From 1966 to 1980, he was a main member of Il Gruppo, one of the first experimental composers collectives, and in 1969 he co-founded Forum Music Village, a prestigious recording studio. He continued to compose music for European productions, such as Marco Polo, La piovra, Nostromo, Fateless, Karol, and En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait.
Morricone composed for Hollywood directors such as Don Siegel, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty, John Carpenter, and Quentin Tarantino. He has also worked with directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Mauro Bolognini, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé, Roman Polanski, Henri Verneuil, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Gillo Pontecorvo, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. His best-known compositions include "The Ecstasy of Gold", "Se telefonando", "Man with a Harmonica", "Here's to You", "Chi Mai", "Gabriel's Oboe", and "E Più Ti Penso". He has influenced many artists including Hans Zimmer,[10] Danger Mouse,[11] Dire Straits,[12] Muse,[13] Metallica,[14] Fields of the Nephilim,[15] and Radiohead.[16]
Career[edit]
First compositions[edit]
Morricone wrote his first compositions when he was six years old and he was encouraged to develop his natural talents.[23] In 1946, he composed "Il Mattino" ("The Morning") for voice and piano on a text by Fukuko, first in a group of seven "youth" Lieder.[24]
In the following years, he continued to write music for the theatre as well as classical music for voice and piano, such as "Imitazione", based on a text by Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, "Intimità", based on a text by Olinto Dini, "Distacco I" and "Distacco II" with words by R. Gnoli, "Oboe Sommerso" for baritone and five instruments with words by poet Salvatore Quasimodo, and "Verrà la Morte", for alto and piano, based on a text by novelist Cesare Pavese.[24]
In 1953, Morricone was asked by Gorni Kramer and Lelio Luttazzi to write an arrangement for some medleys in an American style for a series of evening radio shows. The composer continued with the composition of other 'serious' classical pieces, thus demonstrating the flexibility and eclecticism that always has been an integral part of his character. Many orchestral and chamber compositions date, in fact, from the period between 1954 and 1959: Musica per archi e pianoforte (1954), Invenzione, Canone e Ricercare per piano; Sestetto per flauto, oboe, fagotto, violino, viola, e violoncello (1955), Dodici Variazione per oboe, violoncello, e piano; Trio per clarinetto, corno, e violoncello; Variazione su un tema di Frescobaldi (1956); Quattro pezzi per chitarra (1957); Distanze per violino, violoncello, e piano; Musica per undici violini, Tre Studi per flauto, clarinetto, e fagotto (1958); and the Concerto per orchestra (1957), dedicated to his teacher Goffredo Petrassi.[24][25]
Morricone soon gained popularity by writing his first background music for radio dramas and quickly moved into film.[26]
Personal life and death[edit]
On 13 October 1956, Morricone married Maria Travia (born 31 December 1932), whom he had met in 1950. Travia wrote lyrics to complement her husband's pieces. Her works include the Latin texts for The Mission. Together, they had four children: Marco (b. 1957), Alessandra (b. 1961), conductor and film composer Andrea (b. 1964) and Giovanni (b. 1966), a filmmaker who lives in New York City.[149] They remained married for 63 years until his death.
Morricone lived in Italy his entire life and never desired to live in Hollywood. He described himself as a Christian leftist,[150] stating that he voted for the Christian Democracy (DC) for more than 40 years[151] and then, after its dissolution in 1994, he approached the centre-left coalition.[152]
Morricone loved chess,[153] having learned the game when he was 11. Before his musical career took off, he played in club tournaments in Rome in the mid-1950s. His first official tournament was in 1964, where he won a prize in the third category for amateurs. He was even coached by 12-time Italian champion IM Stefano Tatai for a while. Soon he got too busy for chess, but he would always keep a keen interest in the game and estimated his peak Elo rating to be nearly 1700.[154] Over the years, Morricone played chess with many big names including GMs Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Judit Polgar, and Peter Leko.[154] He once held GM Boris Spassky to a draw[154] in a simultaneous competition with 27 players, where Morricone was the last one standing.[155]
On 6 July 2020, Morricone died at the Università Campus Bio-Medico in Rome, aged 91, as a result of injuries sustained to his femur during a fall.[156][157] Following a private funeral in the hospital's chapel, he was entombed in Cimitero Laurentino.[158]
Ennio Morricone influenced many artists from other styles and genres, including Danger Mouse,[11] Dire Straits,[12] Muse,[13] Metallica,[14] Radiohead[16] and Hans Zimmer.[10]
Morricone's dynamic sound is from the various genres he both served and was inspired from. The diversity of his sound was consistently visual.