I have been writing about Sergio Leone all week and I feel it's only right I write about the musical genius that was Maestro Ennio Morricone!
Ennio Morricone was born on the 10th of November 1928 in Rome, Italy and was an Italian composer, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of musical genres.
Ennio was one of five children born to Libera Ridolfi and Mario Morricone who was a musician.
The family lived in Trastevere in the centre of Rome in an Italy which was under fascist rule.
His father worked as a professional trumpeter who played in light-music orchestras while his mother set up a small textile business.
When Ennio attended school he was a classmate of his future collaborator Sergio Leone.
Morricone's father taught him to read music and play several instruments. He entered the Saint Cecilia Conservatory in 1940 at the age of 12, enrolling in a four-year harmony program which Ennio completed within six months.
He studied the trumpet, composition, and choral music. He received his diploma in trumpet in 1946, Morricone received the Diploma in Instrumentation for Band Arrangement with a mark of 9/10 in 1952. His studies concluded at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1954 when he obtained a final 9.5/10 in his Diploma in Composition. It's safe to say he knew his stuff!
While studying at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia Ennio earned money playing trumpet in jazz bands before getting work as a studio arranger for RCA Victor and in 1955 he started ghost writing music for film and theatre getting his start in the field that would make him a legend in his own lifetime.
He composed around 400 musical scores for films and television.
He also wrote more than 100 classical works.
Morricone is widely considered one of the most prolific and greatest film composers of all time.
His filmography includes more than 70 award-winning films,
Morricone scored so many iconic films! most famously he worked with his old school friend Sergio Leone on,
"A Fistful of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "Once Upon a Time in the West", "Duck!, You Sucker", "Once Upon a Time in America".
He wrote the music for Giuseppe Tornatore's masterpiece "Cinema Paradiso" (1988).
Ennio composed the score for the Dario Argento's films,
"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" (1970), "The Cat o' Nine Tails" (1971) and "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" (1971), as well as cult Italian Giallo movies, such as "Unknown Woman" (1969), "Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion" (1970), "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin" (1971), "The Black Belly of the Tarantula" (1971) "What Have You Done to Solange?" (1972).
He also scored classics such as "The Battle of Algiers" (1968), "1900" (1976),
"La Cage aux Folles" (1978), "Le Professionnel" (1981) and "John Carpenter's The Thing" (1982).
During his career received Oscar nominations for,
"Days of Heaven" (1978),
"The Mission" (1986),
"The Untouchables" (1987),
"Malèna" (2000),
"The Hateful Eight" (2015).
He went on to win the Oscar for "The Hateful Eight" at the 2016 ceremony.
He was also awarded the Academy's Honorary Oscar Award in 2007.
His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is regarded as one of the most recognisable and influential soundtracks in history and It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Ennio Morricone had such a vast and hugely successful career and has left an indelible mark on the world of cinema. He has been name-checked as an influence on many artists including Hans Zimmer, Ludwig Goransson, Dire Straits, Muse, Radiohead and Metallica.
Metallica have also used Morricone's piece "The Ecstasy of Gold" from "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" score as their intro/walk-on music at pretty much every live show that they have done since 1983.
Ennio Morricone died on the 6th of July 2020, at the Università Campus Bio-Medico in Rome, aged 91, as a result of injuries sustained to his femur during a fall.
Following a private funeral in the hospital's chapel, he was entombed in Cimitero Laurentino.
Recommendations!
Basically if Morricone wrote it, it is worth a listen but here are posters for movies that are my favourites. (In no particular order)
