Ennio Morricone (born November 10, 1928, and died July 6, 2020) was an Italian musician who worked as a composer, conductor, trumpet player, and pianist. He created music in many different styles. Morricone wrote music for more than 400 movies and TV shows, as well as over 100 classical pieces. He is widely recognized as one of the most successful and talented film composers in history. He received many awards, including two Academy Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello Awards, eleven Nastro d'Argento Awards, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and the Polar Music Prize.
Morricone’s work includes more than 70 award-winning films. He composed music for all of Sergio Leone’s films starting with A Fistful of Dollars, all of Giuseppe Tornatore’s films since Cinema Paradiso, Dario Argento’s Animal Trilogy, and movies such as The Battle of Algiers (1966), 1900 (1976), La Cage aux Folles (1978), Le Professionnel (1981), The Thing (1982), The Key (1983) by Tinto Brass, and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Days of Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991), Malèna (2000), and The Hateful Eight (2015), and he won for The Hateful Eight. He received an Academy Honorary Award in 2007. His music for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is considered one of the most important soundtracks in history. It was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
Before becoming a film composer, Morricone played the trumpet in jazz bands during the 1940s. He later worked as a studio arranger for RCA Victor and began writing music for films and theater in 1955. He composed music for artists such as Paul Anka, Mina, Milva, Zucchero, and Andrea Bocelli. From 1960 to 1975, he became famous for writing music for Western films, and his score for Once Upon a Time in the West sold an estimated 10 million copies, making it one of the best-selling film scores worldwide. From 1966 to 1980, he was part of Il Gruppo, one of the first groups of experimental composers. In 1969, he helped start Forum Music Village, a well-known recording studio. He continued to write music for European films, including Marco Polo, La piovra, Nostromo, Fateless, Karol, and En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait.
Morricone composed music for Hollywood directors such as Don Siegel, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, William Friedkin, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty, John Carpenter, and Quentin Tarantino. He also worked with directors like Bernardo Bertolucci, Mauro Bolognini, Tinto Brass, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé, Wolfgang Petersen, Roman Polanski, Henri Verneuil, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Gillo Pontecorvo, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. His most famous 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 influenced many artists, including Hans Zimmer, Danger Mouse, Dire Straits, Muse, Metallica, Fields of the Nephilim, and Radiohead.
Early life and education
Ennio Morricone was born in Rome, Italy, to Libera Ridolfi and Mario Morricone, who was a musician. When Morricone was born, Italy was ruled by a fascist government. He had four siblings: Adriana, Aldo, Maria, and Franca. He lived in Trastevere, a neighborhood in the center of Rome. His father was a professional trumpeter who played in small orchestras that performed light music. His mother started a small business that made fabric. During his early school years, Morricone was a classmate of Sergio Leone, a filmmaker he would later work with.
Morricone’s father taught him how to read music and play several instruments. He began studying trumpet at the Saint Cecilia Conservatory under the teacher Umberto Semproni. He officially joined the conservatory in 1940 at age 12. He enrolled in a four-year music theory program, which he completed in six months. He studied trumpet, composition, and choral music under the guidance of Goffredo Petrassi, to whom Morricone later dedicated concert pieces. In 1941, Morricone was selected to join the Opera Orchestra, which was directed by Carlo Zecchi during a tour of the Veneto region. He received his trumpet diploma in 1946 and continued working in classical composition and arrangement. In 1952, he earned a Diploma in Band Arrangement Techniques with a score of 9/10. His studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia concluded in 1954, when he received a final score of 9.5/10 on his Diploma in Composition under Petrassi’s instruction.
Career
Ennio Morricone began writing music when he was six years old. His family supported his talent, and he created his first piece, "Il Mattino" ("The Morning"), in 1946. This song was part of a group of seven songs called "youth" Lieder, written for voice and piano. Over the next few years, Morricone continued to write music for the theater and classical pieces for voice and piano. These included "Imitazione" based on a poem by Giacomo Leopardi, "Intimità" based on a poem by Olinto Dini, and "Verrà la Morte" based on a novel by Cesare Pavese. Other works were "Oboe Sommerso" for baritone and five instruments with words by Salvatore Quasimodo and "Distacco I" and "Distacco II" with words by R. Gnoli.
In 1953, Morricone was asked to arrange music for radio shows in an American style. Between 1954 and 1959, he wrote many orchestral and chamber music pieces, such as Musica per archi e pianoforte (1954), Sestetto (1955), Dodici Variazione (1956), Quattro pezzi per chitarra (1957), and Concerto per orchestra (1957), which was dedicated to his teacher Goffredo Petrassi. Morricone also worked as an arranger for radio dramas and later moved into film music.
Morricone began his career as an arranger in 1950 by arranging the song Mamma Bianca by Narciso Parigi. He also arranged songs for religious radio broadcasts during the "Anno Santo" (Holy Year). In 1956, he supported his family by playing in a jazz band and arranging pop songs for RAI, Italy’s national broadcasting service. However, he left RAI after one day because the company forbade employees from broadcasting their own music. He later became a top studio arranger for RCA Victor, working with artists like Renato Rascel, Rita Pavone, and Domenico Modugno.
Throughout his career, Morricone wrote songs for many jazz and pop artists. These included Gianni Morandi, Alberto Lionello, Edoardo Vianello, Rita Pavone, and international artists like Paul Anka, Françoise Hardy, and Demis Roussos. In 1963, Morricone co-wrote the song "Ogni volta" with Roby Ferrante. This song was performed by Paul Anka at the Festival di Sanremo in 1964 and sold over three million copies worldwide. Another famous song was "Se telefonando," performed by Mina. Morricone’s arrangement combined trumpet melodies, drumming, strings, and a choir, creating a unique sound that became a hit.
In 1987, Morricone co-wrote "It Couldn't Happen Here" with the Pet Shop Boys. He also composed songs for artists like Ruggero Raimondi, Zucchero, k.d. lang, and Andrea Bocelli. After graduating in 1954, Morricone worked as a ghostwriter for films credited to other composers and arranged music for RAI television orchestras. He sometimes used pseudonyms like Dan Savio and Leo Nichols.
In 1959, Morricone conducted the score for Morte di un amico (Death of a Friend), a film by Franco Rossi. That same year, he wrote music for the theater show Il lieto fine by Luciano Salce. His film career began in 1961 with The Fascist, a comedy directed by Salce. Morricone later worked with Salce on many films. He also composed jazz-influenced scores, such as for Crazy Desire (1962).
Morricone wrote experimental music for concerts, including Ut, a trumpet concerto dedicated to Mauro Maur. From 1964 to 1980, he was part of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza (G.I.N.C.), an avant-garde group that performed free improvisations. The group released seven albums on labels like Deutsche Grammophon and RCA. Their album The Feed-back combined jazz, classical, and funk music and is highly valued by collectors.
Live performances
Before earning degrees in trumpet, composition, and instrumentation from a music school, Morricone was already performing as a trumpet player in an orchestra that specialized in film music. After completing his studies at Saint Cecilia, he improved his skills in arranging music for Italian radio and television. To support himself, he joined RCA in the early 1960s and became a key figure in the Italian music recording industry. From 1964 to 1978, Morricone was also a member of the Rome-based experimental group Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, where he played the trumpet during the group’s performances.
To prepare his music for live performances, Morricone combined short pieces into longer suites. Instead of separate pieces that would require frequent applause, he created suites lasting 15 to 20 minutes, similar to a symphony with different movements. These suites included both popular and personal favorite pieces. During concerts, Morricone directed 180 to 200 musicians and vocalists, who performed music across many genres, including rock, symphonic music, and traditional instruments.
On September 20, 1984, Morricone conducted the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire at the Cinésymphonie '84 event in Paris, performing well-known works such as Metti una sera a cena, Novecento, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Michel Legrand and Georges Delerue also performed that evening. On October 15, 1987, Morricone led a concert with 12,000 people in Antwerp, Belgium, featuring the Dutch Metropole Orchestra and the Italian soprano Alide Maria Salvetta. A live recording of this concert was released the same year.
On June 9, 2000, Morricone conducted the National Orchestra of Belgium at the Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent. During the concert, he performed the live score for The Life and Death of King Richard III (1912), the first time this score was played in Europe. The second part of the event featured a collection of Morricone’s compositions. This concert took place the night before Euro 2000, the European Football Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands.
As of 2001, Morricone had performed over 250 concerts. He began a world tour in 2001, later supported by Giorgio Armani, with the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta. Stops included London, Paris, Verona, and Tokyo. In 2004, he performed his classic film scores in Munich.
Morricone made his North American concert debut on February 3, 2007, at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. The previous evening, he performed at the United Nations, including his film themes and the cantata Voci dal silenzio to welcome the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. A review in the Los Angeles Times noted the poor acoustics and stated, “His stick technique is adequate, but his charisma as a conductor is zero.” On February 26, 2012, Morricone conducted the Western Australian Youth Orchestra and a 100-voice choir in Perth. On March 2, 2012, he led the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Adelaide. On December 22, 2012, he conducted the Belgian orchestra “Orkest der Lage Landen” and a 100-voice choir in Antwerp.
In November 2013, Morricone began a world tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his film music career, performing in cities such as Moscow, Santiago, Berlin, Budapest, and Vienna. In June 2014, he canceled a U.S. tour in New York and Los Angeles due to a back procedure on February 20 and postponed the rest of his tour. In November 2014, Morricone announced plans to resume his European tour in February 2015 with Dulce Pontes.
Personal life
On October 13, 1956, Morricone married Maria Travia, who was born on December 31, 1932. They met in 1950, and Travia wrote lyrics to support her husband’s musical works. She contributed Latin texts for The Mission. Together, they had four children: Marco (born 1957), Alessandra (born 1961), Andrea (born 1964), who became a conductor and film composer, and Giovanni (born 1966), a filmmaker living in New York City. They remained married for 63 years until Morricone’s death. Morricone lived in Italy his entire life and never wanted to live in Hollywood. He described himself as a Christian leftist, meaning he believed in both Christianity and social equality. He voted for the Christian Democracy (DC) for over 40 years. After the party ended in 1994, he supported the center-left coalition and joined the Democratic Party (PD) in 2007.
Morricone loved playing chess and learned the game at age 11. Before his music career began, he played in chess club tournaments in Rome during the mid-1950s. His first official tournament was in 1964, where he won a prize for amateur players in the third category. He was briefly coached by Stefano Tatai, a 12-time Italian chess champion. Later, he became too busy with his career but always stayed interested in chess. He estimated his highest skill level, measured by Elo rating, to be nearly 1700. Over time, he played chess with famous players like Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Judit Polgar, and Peter Leko. He once played against 27 players at the same time in a competition and was the last one still playing, drawing with GM Boris Spassky. On July 6, 2020, Morricone died at the Università Campus Bio-Medico in Rome at age 91 after breaking his femur in a fall. A private funeral was held at the hospital’s chapel, and he was buried in Cimitero Laurentino.
Influence
Ennio Morricone influenced many artists from different music styles and genres, including Danger Mouse, Dire Straits, Muse, Metallica, Radiohead, and Hans Zimmer. His influence also reached pop music. Hugo Montenegro had a successful version of the main theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the United Kingdom and the United States. This was followed by an album of Morricone's music in 1968. Many artists recorded Morricone's film music. John Zorn recorded an album of Morricone's music, The Big Gundown, with Keith Rosenberg in the mid-1980s. Morricone's Sergio Leone Suite, which includes haunting melodies from scores he composed for films by Sergio Leone, was performed by Morricone, the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, and Yo-Yo Ma on cello. This recording was released by CBS/Sony (93456) and played on classical radio stations like WSMR in Sarasota, Florida.
Morricone worked with artists from around the world, such as Portuguese fado singer Dulce Pontes (in 2003 with Focus, an album praised by Paulo Coelho and where his songbook can be sampled) and skilled cellist Yo-Yo Ma (in 2004). Both artists recorded albums of Morricone's music with the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra and Morricone conducting. The album Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone sold more than 130,000 copies in 2004. Metallica has used Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" as an intro at their concerts since 1983. The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra also played it on Metallica's live albums S&M and S&M2. The theme from A Fistful of Dollars is also used as a concert intro by The Mars Volta.
Morricone inspired the name of Morricone Youth, a New York band that plays music from film and television. The band was founded in 1999 by musician and radio host Devon E. Levins. The group has performed music from many parts of Morricone's film career, including his spaghetti westerns and The Exorcist II, as well as original pieces inspired by his work. The Spaghetti Western Orchestra is an Australian tribute band that started in 2004. Radiohead used Morricone's recording style for their 1997 album OK Computer. Singer and composer Mike Patton was influenced by Morricone's experimental work and commissioned a compilation album, Crime and Dissonance, of lesser-known Morricone soundtracks in 2005. Gnarls Barkley's hit single "Crazy" (2006) was musically inspired by Morricone.
Muse cited Morricone as an influence for songs like "City of Delusion," "Hoodoo," and "Knights of Cydonia" on their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations. The band performed "Man with a Harmonica," played by Chris Wolstenholme, as an intro to "Knights of Cydonia." In 2007, the tribute album We All Love Ennio Morricone was released, featuring performances by artists like Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, and Metallica. Alex Turner noted Morricone's influence on his writing, especially on The Last Shadow Puppets album The Age of the Understatement (2008). The song "505" samples The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
"Love on the Sun," a song by French music producer David Guetta released in 2014, was influenced by Morricone's western scores. The Prodigy used Morricone's score from La resa dei conti (Seconda Caccia) from The Big Gundown on their 2009 album Invaders Must Die. Anna Calvi has cited Morricone as an influence. Sea Girls' song "Lonely," written on the day of Morricone's death, was influenced by his music, especially from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was released as a single in February 2022. Sabaton, known for music based on history, used Morricone's style for their song "Audie Murphy (To Hell and Back)," according to the band's singer.
Discography
Ennio Morricone sold more than 70 million records worldwide during his career, which lasted for more than 70 years. He sold 6.5 million albums and singles in France, over 3 million in the United States, and more than 2 million albums in South Korea. In 1971, he received his first golden record (disco d'oro) for selling 1,000,000 records in Italy. He was also awarded a "Targa d'Oro" for worldwide sales of 22 million records. He worked with directors for a long time on many projects.
Awards and honors
Ennio Morricone received his first Academy Award nomination in 1979 for the music in Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978). He was nominated again for The Mission. Additional Oscar nominations included his scores for The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991), Malèna (2000), and The Hateful Eight (2016). In February 2016, Morricone won his first competitive Academy Award for the music in The Hateful Eight. Morricone and Alex North are the only composers to receive the Academy Honorary Award since its creation in 1928. He received this award in February 2007, "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music."
In 2005, four of Morricone’s film scores were nominated by the American Film Institute for inclusion in the AFI’s Top 25 of Best American Film Scores of All Time. His score for The Mission was ranked 23rd on the list. Morricone was nominated seven times for a Grammy Award. In 2009, The Recording Academy added his score for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) to the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2010, Morricone and Icelandic singer Björk won the Polar Music Prize, an award created in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of the Swedish pop group ABBA. This prize is usually given to a pop artist and a classical musician. A poll by Variety of 40 top film composers named The Mission as the greatest film score of all time.
In 1971, Morricone received a "Targa d’Oro" for selling 22 million records worldwide. By 2016, his music had sold over 70 million records globally. In 2007, he received the Academy Honorary Award for his "magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." He was nominated for six more Oscars and won his only competitive Oscar in 2016 for The Hateful Eight, becoming the oldest person ever to win a competitive Oscar at that time. His other achievements include three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, six BAFTA Awards, ten David di Donatello Awards, eleven Nastro d’Argento Awards, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and the Polar Music Prize in 2010. The soundtrack for The Mission (1986) was certified gold in the United States. The album Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone remained on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart for 105 weeks.