Ennio Morricone started composing at the age of six. (Image courtesy: AFP)
Strong points
- Ennio Morricone began his film career in 1961 when he was 33 years old
- His first film project was with director Luciano Salce
- Ennio Morricone died on Monday in Rome
Rome:
Ennio Morricone, one of the world‘s best-known and most prolific film composers, died in Rome on Monday at the age of 91. He has composed music for around 500 films, including the 1966 spaghetti western from his old childhood friend Sergio Leone. The good the bad and the ugly and Quentin Tarantino The Hateful Eight for which he won an Oscar in 2016. Ennio Morricone died in hospital where he was treated for a fractured femur following a fall, according to a statement by a lawyer and family friend. A statement issued by lawyer and family friend Giorgio Assuma said that Morricone “died in the early hours of July 6 with the comfort of his faith”. He remained “fully lucid and with great dignity until the end,” the statement said.
– “Adieu maestro” –
Tributes began to pour in for the maestro shortly after the announcement of his death. “We will remember forever and with infinite gratitude the artistic genius of Maestro Ennio Morricone,” said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “It made us dream, it moved us and made us think, writing unforgettable notes that will remain forever in the history of music and cinema,” he said on Twitter.
Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza wrote in a tweet: “Farewell maestro, and thank you for the emotions you have given us.” Gilles Jacob, the former director of the Cannes festival, describes him as “the emperor” of film music.
Born on November 10, 1928, Morricone began composing at the age of six and, at only 10, he enrolled in a trumpet school at the prestigious Conservatory of St. Cecilia in Rome.
His film career started in 1961, when he was 33, with a collaboration with director Luciano Salce in Ultra-secret mission before becoming famous with the score of A handful of dollars with Clint Eastwood in 1964.
Before winning the Oscar for best film in 2016, the Rome-born son of a trumpeter had been nominated no less than five times before the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences – embarrassed that such talent had not been recognized earlier – presented him with an award for all of his achievements in 2007.
Ennio Morricone’s previous appointments were for Days Of Heaven (1978), The mission (1986), The incorruptible (1987), Bugsy (1991) and Malena (2000).
Although it is most closely associated in the public mind with Leone westerns with Eastwood, the composition of Morricone for the Jesuit drama by Roland Joffe The mission is considered by many critics to be his cinematographic masterpiece, an epic and eclectic reflection of the South American musical melting pot.
He has also worked with some of the most successful filmmakers – after his collaboration with Leone, he worked with Italian screen legends Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini and later with artists like Pedro Almodovar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
