
Ennio Morricone has died - weinzierl
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ennio-morricone-dead-prolific-italian-composer-was-91-858358
======
spacechild1
Ennio Morricone single-handedly "invented" the typical style of Italo Western
film music. US-American Western film music used to be lush orchestral scores,
instead Morricone used electric guitars, whistling, screaming, Mariachi
trumpet playing, various percussion instruments, etc. The music for "A Fistful
of Dollars" was something people have never heard before.

However, I can see a similar approach in Masaru Satō's music for Kurosawa's
Samurai movies with its sparse instrumentation and inclusion of jazz elements.
The whole score is in stark contrast to the music of earlier Jidai-geki
movies, which also favoured large sweeping orchestral music.

Given the fact that "A Fistful of Dollars" was basically a remake of
Kurosawa's "Yojimbo", I have been wondering if Morricone had been influenced
by Satō in any way.

~~~
charlysl
Morricone himself addresses this in an old interview
([https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2016/12/11/morricone-
interview...](https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2016/12/11/morricone-interview-
cinema-papers/))

 _Your first big film success was A Fist Full of Dollars, whose score is very
different from that of the Hollywood Westerns. Your cul­tural perspective is
obviously different. What were the stimuli?

The stimulus was the film itself. Leone had made an ironic and, in a certain
sense, a grotesque film in that it was funny, a caricature. It was necessary
to respect the clarity that Leone wanted for his charac­ters. Besides, I was
not, and am not, a specialist in American folk music, so what sense was there
in my treating the characters like Americans? If that is required, use an
American composer. So, I treated Leone’s characters by attempting to re-
invent, in my way, American folk, bearing in mind certain musical and
technical data. And then the caricatured treatment of the characters
encouraged me to introduce strange sounds into the score so that the character
would have the charisma Leone wanted._

Not that I know much about it, but I find music in some old japanese movies
very interesting, like Woman In The Dunes
([https://youtu.be/UFbJ9iDeZgg](https://youtu.be/UFbJ9iDeZgg)) or Kwaidan
([https://youtu.be/v_OFoOwzPZY](https://youtu.be/v_OFoOwzPZY))

~~~
FeloniousHam
The Soundtrack Show podcast had an interesting three episode series on
Morricone and the making of the Leone movies themselves:

[https://pca.st/episode/21779b37-f458-496a-a3c8-3828e1dec912](https://pca.st/episode/21779b37-f458-496a-a3c8-3828e1dec912)

~~~
zionpi
Thanks for sharing this,but I found there are only two episodes,did I have
missed episode III?

~~~
FeloniousHam
You're right, my old eyes inserted an extra 'I' looking at the phone :).

------
charlysl
Claudia's theme from Once Upon A Time in The West is as good as it gets.

[https://youtu.be/AHe07HT5NQA](https://youtu.be/AHe07HT5NQA)

Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone has to be one of the greatest partnerships in
film history, so many unforgetable moments:

[https://youtu.be/qwb3P0fuM1c](https://youtu.be/qwb3P0fuM1c)

Here is a very good old interview, with several references to their
collaboration:

[https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2016/12/11/morricone-
interview...](https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2016/12/11/morricone-interview-
cinema-papers/)

Their last film together:

[https://youtu.be/Jj5Xczethmw](https://youtu.be/Jj5Xczethmw)

~~~
x87678r
[https://youtu.be/qwb3P0fuM1c](https://youtu.be/qwb3P0fuM1c) That's awesome.
So many crappy movies these days. 50+ years old, its amazing to me the quality
is so high as well. I'm going to have to rent this.

~~~
charlysl
You should. The visuals are stunning, the score is highlights galore, and
Henry Fonda is the ultimate villain.

~~~
saiya-jin
This movie for me is the ultimate proof that less talking is often better. The
picture itself can speak volumes, I mean first 15 minutes of the movie there
are like 10 sentences being said altogether, yet the story is well laid out.

This was one of few movies from the west that was allowed behind iron curtain,
it became part of my childhood. I've seen it at least 15 times, it never gets
boring even for a second. Timeless story, character, and the music...
Leone/Morricone understood (in similar vein as George Lucas and others) that
music can make one hell of atmosphere for the movie, much better than just
awesome visuals and something mediocre in the background.

I like it even better than rest of Leone's movies, maybe a bit sentimental
remainder from my childhood.

------
motohagiography
I have a spotify playlist with a bunch of Morricone's pieces on it, and oddly
I discovered him as a teenager listening to a super weird goth band called
Fields of the Nephilim, whose schtick was basically dressing up as vampire
cowboys, and they sampled Morricone as a leitmotif throughout a whole bunch of
their songs. Most familiar will be this one:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcg-
iCBivbw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcg-iCBivbw)

It's easy to miss that there was a lot of truly great art wrapped up with what
we were taught was kitsch, camp, and schmaltz.

~~~
e40
Can you share the playlist?

~~~
motohagiography
Sure, there's a bunch of other stuff in it for classic guitar as well since I
assembled it essentially as workout music for schooling horses in the summer
with some guitar repetoire:
[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5nFrK21I8wIZin0T7i71zH](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5nFrK21I8wIZin0T7i71zH)

YMMV, but there is a Morricone highlight reel in there, along with some other
epic stuff. If you are a Quentin Tarantino fan, you'll recognize things like
L'Arena and others from Kill Bill, with a bunch of other homages.

------
Erwin
He toured with live performances very frequently, only retiring from live
music last year, at age of 90. I saw him twice and both were filled with
really serious fans of all ages.

While he was prolific (350+ movie scores credits on imdb), I really feel as I
am re-experiencing the movie while listening to Morricone's soundtracks, more
than from any other composer, especially for "Cinema Paradiso", "Frantic" and,
I think, the most meaningful Spaghetti Western, "Duck, You Sucker" (!).

~~~
jyriand
Another name for “Duck you sucker” is “Fistful of Dynamite”.

------
BLKNSLVR
I don't know most of his work, but I've had two channels into it in my life.

1\. I have distinct childhood memories of the score from Once Upon a Time in
the West from when my dad watched it (and then watching it myself). It still
stirs something deep, that's not just nostalgia.

2\. Following Mike Patton's musical journey and finding the haunting version
The Ballad of Hank McCain in collaboration with John Zorn - from an album
composed entirely of covers of Ennio Morricone tracks (The Big Gundown).

I'll need to educate myself further.

------
aarroyoc
I'm a very big fan of him. It's so sad but we all knew he was in the late
stages of his life.

He was for me the biggest composer of the second half of 20th century, which
just happened to do music for films (also for some Italian pop music, but it
was less prolific there).

Requiescat in Pace.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3SAOQfMA44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3SAOQfMA44)

~~~
frandroid
How about the first half? Shostakovich?

~~~
323454
Ravel!

[https://youtu.be/bTYUyDjVCRU](https://youtu.be/bTYUyDjVCRU)

------
markosaric
This has made me sad :(

Metallica introduced me to his music and then I explored a lot. Had a
privilege to witness his performance live once. Ennio Morricone is a legend!
RIP Maestro!

------
HenryBemis
Metallica always called him Maestro:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hmtzRo-
Qro8](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hmtzRo-Qro8)

Anyone who hasn't been in a Metallica concert, it is totally worth it,
especially their (always the same) intro!

~~~
rad_gruchalski
I believe Hardwired Tour did not use this intro.

~~~
HenryBemis
From Wikipedia:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ecstasy_of_Gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ecstasy_of_Gold)

"American metal band Metallica has used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as the
introductory music for its concerts since 1984."

------
maaaaattttt
He never had the public recognition he deserved unfortunately. I'm still
surprised at how many people can whistle many of his pieces without knowing
who he is.

~~~
kleiba
Are you sure about that? At least in Europe, Morricone has long been
recognized as one of the great.

~~~
maaaaattttt
My statement is biased by my own experiences I admit. Maybe the honorary Oscar
he received in 2007 is somewhat a more objective illustration of what I meant.

~~~
klackerz
He did get an Oscar for The Hateful Eight in 2015, though.

~~~
andi999
He should have gotten one for 'the good, the bad, the ugly'. Didnt check
though who else got it that year.

~~~
kleiba
This one did:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Free](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Free)
(original score by
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barry_(composer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barry_\(composer\))
)

Fun fact: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly did not receive an academy award
nomination in any category.

------
lou1306
Of course his soundtrack work is immortal. However, he also composed some
iconic Italian pop songs! His most famous one is probably Mina's "Se
Telefonando". [1]

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fpSiE953w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fpSiE953w)

------
efrafa
Once upon a time in the West has probably the best soundtrack ever made.

Great cover:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIipUjO2ckk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIipUjO2ckk)

------
tzs
A couple random things:

1\. How did Adam and the Ants never get sued over "Jolly Roger"? [1] The
melody and even the arrangement are pretty much a straight copy of Morricone's
"The March of the MacGregors" [2] from the movie "7 Guns for the MacGregors".
Morricone should have at least got songwriting credit on "Jolly Roger", but it
is just credited to Marco Pirroni and Adam Ant.

2\. There are some interesting covers of Morricone songs. The Ramones did "The
Good, The Bad and The Ugly" in some of their live shows. Their version was
pretty straightforward...if you heard it in isolation you would not have
thought "Ramones".

Wall of Voodoo did "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". Their version sounded
like a Wall of Voodoo song.

Great music stays great even if arranged for and played on instruments quite
different from what it was written for. An example of that is the Ukulele
Orchestra of Great Britain's version of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" [3].

3\. If all that comes to mind when you hear the name Ennio Morricone is a
bunch of great spaghetti western music, it is worth getting a compilation or
two of his work and listening to it.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4n-oo32Jg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR4n-oo32Jg)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peGmy_oRz38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peGmy_oRz38)

[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgJ7pk0X-s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgJ7pk0X-s)

------
pmoriarty
One of my favorite Morricone creations is main theme for one of the greatest
horror films of all time, John Carpenter's 1982 remake of _The Thing_.[1]

I can't find it now, but in an interview Carpenter said something like that
when he first worked with Morricone on this film, the latter came up with a
very flowery, melodic theme, and Carpenter went to visit him but had trouble
getting his ideas across to Morricone because of the language barrier, so he
just said (through a translator): "Less notes"[2], and this is what Morricone
came up with.

[1] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfcc9U35hPY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfcc9U35hPY)

[2] - Which reminds me of the "too many notes" scene from _Amadeus_
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_eqxh-
Qok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_eqxh-Qok)), but unlike Mozart, who
took offense, Morricone seems to have taken the suggestion in stride and come
up with a classic.

------
zabil
I am such a big fan. Ecstasy of gold in the final scene of the good bad and
the ugly was so good.

~~~
jacquesm
You may like this then:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajM4vYCZMZk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajM4vYCZMZk)

------
lukebennett
So very sad :( One of my all time favourite composers. Such emotive music that
bring back so many memories, not least my wife walking down the aisle to me to
Gabriel's Oboe. RIP.

~~~
jacquesm
That piece gives me gooseflesh every time I hear it.

------
graeme
This is a wonderful and hilarious short interview with Morricone in the 80s:
[http://sdarchive.com/premiere2.html](http://sdarchive.com/premiere2.html)

I’ve listened to Morricone scores more often than I can count. This is very
sad news. He was still working too.

~~~
jawilson2
This is great:

Fagen: But isn't it true that the Leone films, with their elevation of mythic
structures, their comic book visual style and extreme irony, are now perceived
as signaling an aesthetic transmutation by a generation of artists and
filmmakers? And isn't it also true that your music for those films reflected
and abetted Leone's vision by drawing on the same eerie catalog of genres -
Hollywood western, Japanese samurai, American pop, and Italian Opera? That
your scores functioned both "inside" the film as a narrative voice and
"outside" the film as the commentary of a winking jester? Put it all together
and doesn't it spell "postmodern", in the sense that there has been a
grotesque encroachment of the devices of art and, in fact, an establishment of
a new narrative plane founded on the devices themselves? Isn't that what's
attracting lower Manhattan?

Morricone: [ shrugs ]

------
vixen99
Another Morricone score worth mentioning is that for a great film - Cinema
Paradiso.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQh4PeB8PE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQh4PeB8PE)

------
xabi
Ci vediamo Ennio!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEjaip1ePYM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEjaip1ePYM)

------
brushfoot
Another of the great melody writers is gone. He will be missed. His _Cinema
Paradiso_ theme is one of my all-time favorites -- not the love theme that's
most commonly associated with the film, but the main theme, which plays during
the opening. It's so infinitely tender and nostalgic.

[https://youtu.be/BvD8EiibPVo](https://youtu.be/BvD8EiibPVo)

~~~
bori5
Here’s the love theme performed by Pat and Charlie
[https://youtu.be/qEwXcgwzIYE](https://youtu.be/qEwXcgwzIYE)

------
jborak
A lot of people have seen the Clint Eastwood "Man with no name" westerns but
if you haven't watched "Once Upon a Time in the West" I would definitely check
it out. One of the best movies I've seen and if you're not fan of westerns
(which I wasn't) you will appreciate the genre some more after seeing this
movie.

------
nineteen999
So many amazing moments in the Sergio Leone movies alone. One of my favourites
is the pocket watch from "A Few Dollars More" which features on its own and
also as part of the final duel:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPnR7C8mZQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPnR7C8mZQ)

Such a haunting piece of music.

~~~
orthoxerox
Our building superintendant had it as his ringtone and spoiled the song for
me.

~~~
nineteen999
This is where I'm supposed to empty out my HN eggcup, wear it on my head like
a hat, and tell you that you're wrong because it's not a song, because it
doesn't have any singing , vocal signal or poetry in it.

[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/song?s=t](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/song?s=t)

But in all seriousness, I'm sorry that happened to you, that's terrible.

------
simonebrunozzi
I'm Italian, living in San Francisco, in my 40s.

For essentially every Italian, in Italy or abroad, Morricone is one of these
timeless figures.

His work is considered by many so inspirational and innovative in its own way;
and if you pick one of the many contributions he made to music or cinema, you
will find layers and layers of details to unveil, often to reveal important
aspects of Italy's culture of the second half of the 20th century.

As an example: he composed "Se telefonando" [0], performed by Mina and written
by Maurizio Costanzo.

Mina is "the female voice" of Italy's economic boom (1950-1970). He was then
ostracized by every media outlet (TV, newspapers, etc) because he had a son
without being married, and the Church heavily condemned it.

Maurizio Costanzo is one of the most important figures in Italian TV, and has
had a show, the "Maurizio Costanzo show", for decades. Think of him as the
Italian Oprah.

You can do this hundreds of times with many pieces that Morricone composed or
arranged.

He kept performing at concerts until recently, despite his old age. In Italy
people often remember his last appearance at La Scala (the most iconic theatre
in Milan, considered to be THE place for Opera and high music, among other
things), and concerts at Arena di Verona (a smaller Colosseum in Verona,
hometown of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), the Colosseum in Rome, and the
"Terme di Caracalla" also in Rome (ancient public bath houses, the second
largest ever built).

He will be truly missed.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se_Telefonando](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se_Telefonando)

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_of_Caracalla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_of_Caracalla)

------
rjohnk
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra has a great rendition of The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly. The guest conductor is Sarah Hicks, of the Minnesota
Orchestra

[https://youtu.be/enuOArEfqGo](https://youtu.be/enuOArEfqGo)

------
bambax
A great interpretation of the main theme of _For a Few Dollars More_ by an
Italian street musician:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1IeozjGrck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1IeozjGrck)

------
Thorentis
I loved the soundtrack of The Mission. Might watch it again this week. RIP.

~~~
the-rc
His themes were often iconic for their distinctive instrumentation and perhaps
The Mission was the clearest example. It's a crime that he lost the Oscar to
Herbie Hancock. Although the surf guitar sounds a bit cheesy or dated today,
the main theme for The Sicilian Clan is another underappreciated and original
creation of his: [https://youtu.be/GwmdscZNTQU](https://youtu.be/GwmdscZNTQU)

------
itchynosedev
I went to see his live performance in Amsterdam a few years back. The show had
been postponed due to back injury but it ended up happening a year later, and
it was mesmerizing.

------
_pferreir_
I had the privilege of seeing him live a few years ago. It strikes me how,
despite his world-wide-acclaimed genius, he managed to remain so humble and
reserved. It took decades for the world to finally recognize his greatness (he
only got a honorary Oscar in 2007 and finally in 2016, at 87 years of age, the
first Oscar for a soundtrack), but it did finally happen. If you have 2
minutes, look for the video of the acceptance speech. It's difficult to avoid
crying.

------
indogooner
Once Upon A Time is the first Western I watched and became fan of Leone,
Morricone and Bronson for life. I found it slow initially but the background
score won't let me leave it. And from then on I binge watched as many Westerns
as I could. Btw rendition by Danish Orchestra is also awesome
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=efdswXXjnBA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=efdswXXjnBA)

------
fredsanford
RIP sir and thank you for the art. Once Upon a Time in America and The Good,
The Bad and The Ugly have burned a huge amount of my entertainment time.

------
Jugurtha
He scored "La Bataille d'Alger"[1] ("The Battle of Algiers"), directed by
Gillo Pontecorvo, which depicted events that took place in Algiers
(specifically the Casbah), Algeria, during the war for independence. Algeria
celebrated its independence day yesterday.

So long.

[1]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb-
OBWU4qY4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb-OBWU4qY4)

------
sarthakjshetty
Bobak Ferdowsi, an engineer who wrote a lot of the operating procedures for
the Curiosity Rover was a huge fan as well, and paid tribute in a tweet that
encapuslates Morricone's spirit [1]. [1] -
[https://twitter.com/tweetsoutloud/status/1280043423429345280](https://twitter.com/tweetsoutloud/status/1280043423429345280)

------
_sbrk
Coincidentally, I watched Inglorious Basterds last night and have always loved
the end credit music, so I let it run to the end. R.I.P. Ennio

------
woobar
Interesting that the article has attributed "Chi Mai" to a British TV series.
But I always thought it was from the 1981 Belmondo movie (Le professionnel).
In fact it was written in 1971 for another movie (Maddalena).

Absolutely beautiful:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbHP9NtSnB0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbHP9NtSnB0)

------
flobosg
The Mission soundtrack was one of my favorites as a kid. And I just learned
that his work on The Thing was nominated to a Razzie Award!

------
sneak
I was lucky enough to see him at Radio City about a decade ago, with the
entirety of the Roma Sinfonietta playing for him and for us. It was one of the
most impressive and moving musical performances I have ever seen in my life.

Seeing a coloratura soprano do The Ecstasy Of Gold right before me was
mindblowing.

------
7sigma
What also amazes me about his music is that how even some obscure movies he
scored for had really great soundtracks:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqre0jAq724](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqre0jAq724)

------
christkv
I just rewatched The untouchables a week ago and remembered why I loved the
music of that movie so much
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu2FekMaTQc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu2FekMaTQc)

~~~
khazhoux
Al Capone's theme is so great.

------
racl101
Legendary composer.

Wish more young people knew his stuff, but kids really get bombarded with John
Williams' stuff when they watch Star Wars.

But yeah, Ennio Morricone is every bit as important and influential as John
Williams.

~~~
frandroid
Morricone re-scoring Star Wars would have been interesting :D

~~~
racl101
I think the Mandolorian kinda gives us a preview of what that could look like
and so far so good.

------
linksnapzz
Morricone did the score for "Treasure of the Four Crowns"; the explicit
silliness of a film never seemed to stop him from putting in 100% effort to
produce great music for it.

------
Finnucane
A personal favorite album is John Zorn’s _The Big Gundown_ , an album of
arrangements of Morricone’s film music. Two great tastes that go great
together, as they say.

~~~
pachico
I didn't expect to read the name John Zorn here. This forum keeps surprising
me.

------
spiritplumber
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo)
A fitting tribute, I think

------
sepisoad
I was listening to his masterpieces just yesterday and thought how wonderful
his compositions are. I will miss him definitely. RIP

------
xwdv
Died from a broken femur, how is that something so simple can just kill a
person?

~~~
saiya-jin
When you are 93 years old? very, very easily from all kinds of complications

------
derberg
Chi Mai

------
tmamic
I regret missing his concert a few years ago. He is amazing!

------
Boxfreshpidge
An amazing composer with a magic sound

------
toyg
"Prolific" is a bit demeaning. He took soundtracks into mainstream
consciousness in the '60s, and "The Good The Bad and The Ugly" is still an
absolute masterpiece.

~~~
QuesnayJr
"Prolific" doesn't sound demeaning to me. It just means his oeuvre is large.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
In criticism the word prolific is often used in a demeaning manner to imply
that the artist under question has not put as much thought and care into their
pieces as they might or should have, but instead went for quantity over
quality.

I think though this usage has fallen out of favor and at any rate was probably
more common among poor critics, I think nowadays it is understood that
quantity of output might be necessary for some creators to achieve their best
work (by producing some that is not as great as their best)

on edit: so the word is sometimes sort of a snob-whistle, ooh prolific, well
they're saying he's not that good then. But I doubt that is the way it is
being used here.

~~~
simonh
It is also very often used of outstanding creators who are incredibly
productive. I have seen it used that way many times. If anybody is using it
pejoratively they need to stop. I think it would be a terrible shame if we had
to tip-toe round our use of language because of misuse by others. I'm firmly
against letting a small minority who are abusing language set the linguistic
agenda in that way, although I have to say I don't remember seeing that usage
myself.

~~~
Anthony-G
I fully agree. As a lover of both music and cinema, I’ve (thankfully) never
come across this linguistic abuse of “prolific”. If I did encounter it, the
writer would immediately lose my respect and I’d probably stop reading.

