Page 7 - Music Notes - July 2020, Issue No. 1

World Stage

Ennio Morricone passes away at 91

Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning film composer, has died at the age of
91. He died at dawn on Monday, 6th July in a Rome hospital after falling
and breaking his leg.
Born in Rome, Morricone, (10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020) was an
Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player who wrote
music in a wide range of styles. Morricone composed over 400 scores for
cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. He is best
known internationally as the composer behind the instantly recognizable
melodies from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Once Upon a Time
in the West."The Italian composer was famous for the tension-filled scores
of spaghetti Westerns, and won an Academy Award for his soundtrack for
Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" in 2016, after five previous
nominations and an Honorary Award in 2007 that recognized his lifetime's
achievement.

After playing the trumpet in jazz bands in the 1940s, he became a studio arranger for RCA Victor and in 1955 started ghost writing for film and
theatre. Rising to fame between 1960 and 1975, Morricone scored more than 500 films, and was a winner and nominee for numerous BAFTA
awards and Golden Globes, as well as being the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Although arguably best known for creating
music for Westerns, the composer also developed soundtracks for cinematic classics including "The Mission" and "Cinema Paradiso."

Video

Morricone conducts Morricone:
The main theme from The Mission