Ennio Morricone, 2 years without the Master of soundtracks. His most beautiful music

He has composed more than 500 melodies for film and television, forever writing his name in the history of the big screen and music. Ennio Morricone died in Rome at the age of 91. A very long career, punctuated by countless awards including his career Oscar. The long collaborations with Sergio Leone, Elio Petri, Giuseppe Tornatore, Giuliano Montaldo and Dario Argento, but also the many works created for Hollywood: Ennio Morricone is the name of a genius who will remain unforgettable

Once upon a time there was Ennio Morricone: his universal masterpiece

The first step towards Morricone’s fame is the partnership with Sergio Leone, which lasted for the entire career of the director, starting with “A fistful of dollars”, in 1964. The soundtrack is worth the first recognition for the composer, that of Silver ribbon. A collaboration is born that will forever make the images of Leone inseparable from the music of Morricone, consecrating the films of the so-called “Dollar Trilogy” to milestones of cinema

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In fact, the collaboration in the western trilogy continues the following year with “For a few dollars more”

Once upon a time there was Ennio Morricone: his universal masterpiece

The songs signed by Morricone for Sergio Leone’s westerns are made iconic by the use of the famous whistle of maestro Alessandro Alessandroni, by the harmonica and by effects such as the howls of coyotes

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In 1965 the trilogy ends with “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and its memorable theme. All three films, like their soundtracks, become highly cited classics. Morricone’s notes accompany Leone’s close-ups of Clint Eastwood, destined to become an icon of the western, are fundamental pieces of the history of cinema

But the partnership with Sergio Leone does not stop, and will continue until the director’s last film. Morricone composes another immortal theme, that of “Once upon a time in the West”, from 1968

With “Once upon a time in America”, Sergio Leone’s last film released in 1984, the duo signs another memorable classic in the history of cinema. The vicissitudes of Noodles, played by Robert De Niro, from the Jewish ghetto to the organized crime, are made unforgettable by Morricone’s soundtrack

In the ’70s Morricone puts his signature on other classics of Italian cinema, starting with “Sacco e Vanzetti” by Giuliano Montaldo in 1971, which also boasts a song sung by the American singer-songwriter Joan Baez

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Another fundamental partnership in Morricone’s career is that with Elio Petri. Impossible to forget the theme of “Investigation of a citizen above all suspicion”, a 1970 film to which Gian Maria Volonté gives a legendary interpretation

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The collaboration with Petri continues in 1971 with “The working class goes to heaven”, which always sees Volonté as the protagonist. Morricone will work five more times with the director, including “Todo modo” in 1976

The credit Morricone earned in the 1960s and 1970s earned the composer his early work in Hollywood. In 1979 the first Oscar nomination for the best soundtrack arrives, thanks to “Days of Heaven” by Terrence Malick, with Richard Gere

In 1982 Morricone devoted himself to horror, one of the countless genres experimented by the Maestro, with “The Thing” by John Carpenter

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Morricone had already tried his hand at horror by working on several films by Dario Argento, from “The Bird with the Crystal Feathers” in 1970, through “The Nine-Tailed Cat” and “4 flies of gray velvet”, both from ‘next year. The collaboration with the Roman director will return in the 90s

Even the 80s offer unforgettable melodies. In 1987 Morricone was nominated for an Oscar for the soundtrack of “Mission”, with Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons. The main theme of the film, “Falls”, is one of the Maestro’s best known compositions and has also been used often in commercials.

The following year, another Oscar nomination with “The untouchables” by Brian De Palma, the saga about policemen engaged in the hunt for Al Capone. There will be 5 nominations before Morricone gets a statuette, a fact that over the years has often caused discussion

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During his career Morricone will collaborate 11 times with Giuseppe Tornatore. The first time is already memorable: in 1989 “Nuovo cinema paradiso” won the Oscar for best foreign film and the Special Jury Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, while the Maestro’s music won a David di Donatello, and a BAFTA

The partnership with Tornatore also had its fruits with “The legend of the pianist on the ocean”, a 1998 film with which Morricone won a Golden Globe for the best original soundtrack.

The Oscar for Morricone finally arrives in 2007, and is an honorary career recognition

In 2015, after much insistence and numerous citations in his films, Quentin Tarantino finally manages to convince Morricone to work on a soundtrack for one of his films: “The hateful eight”. The work earned Morricone the second Oscar of his career