Ennio Morricone is an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor and former trumpet player from Rome. Born in 1928 and active from 1946 until his death in 2020, he writes a large body of work across cinema, television and concert music, including more than 500 screen scores and over 100 classical works.

Career

Morricone begins his career playing trumpet in jazz bands in the 1940s before working as a studio arranger for RCA Victor. In 1955 he starts ghostwriting for film and theatre. From 1960 to 1975 he gains international recognition for his western scores, while continuing to work across many other genres and media.

He composes for a wide range of directors, including Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari, Sergio Sollima, Bernardo Bertolucci, Mauro Bolognini, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé, Roman Polanski, Henri Verneuil, Don Siegel, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty and Quentin Tarantino.

Notable film music

His work for Sergio Leone includes all of the director’s films from A Fistful of Dollars onwards, among them For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America. He also scores all of Giuseppe Tornatore’s films from Cinema Paradiso onwards, as well as films such as The Battle of Algiers, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, The Thing, The Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Bugsy, Disclosure, In the Line of Fire, Bulworth, Ripley’s Game and The Hateful Eight.

He is also associated with major French films, including the La Cage aux Folles trilogy and Le Professionnel. His music is reused in television series such as The Simpsons and The Sopranos, and in films including Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.

Compositions and recordings

Among his best-known pieces are “The Ecstasy of Gold”, “Se Telefonando”, “Man with a Harmonica”, “Here’s to You”, “Chi Mai”, “Gabriel’s Oboe” and “E Più Ti Penso”. “Chi Mai” reaches number 2 in the UK singles chart. His score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is regarded as one of the most influential soundtracks and enters the Grammy Hall of Fame. Once Upon a Time in the West becomes one of the best-selling scores worldwide, with an estimated 10 million copies sold, while the soundtrack to The Mission receives gold certification in the United States.

He also writes for singers and other artists including Paul Anka, Mina, Milva, Zucchero and Andrea Bocelli. The album Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone remains on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart for 105 weeks.

Groups and collaborations

Morricone is a main member of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, an experimental composer collective active from 1966 to 1980. In 1969 he co-founds Forum Music Village, a recording studio in Rome.

Awards

He receives a Targa d’Oro in 1971 for worldwide sales of 22 million records. His honours include 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. He receives an Academy Honorary Award in 2007 for his contribution to film music, and later wins his first competitive Oscar for The Hateful Eight, becoming the oldest person to receive an Academy Award. By 2013, he has sold more than 70 million records worldwide.