Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (1928–2020) was an Italian composer and conductor whose film music ranged from Sergio Leone’s westerns to The Mission.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A 1966 Sergio Leone western scored by Ennio Morricone, featuring the theme known as “The Ecstasy of Gold.” Its score’s whistling, choir, and gunshot-like effects became a signature of Leone’s westerns.
Leitmotif: A recurring musical idea associated with a character, place, or concept. Morricone often gave characters distinct musical identities that return and change across a film.
Sergio Leone: An Italian film director known for influential westerns, including the films he made with Ennio Morricone. Their long collaboration developed a distinctive relationship between music, image, and pacing.
Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia: A conservatory in Rome where Ennio Morricone studied trumpet, composition, and orchestration. His formal training there provided a foundation for both orchestral writing and film scoring.
Academy Award for Best Original Score: An annual Academy Award honoring an original musical score written for a film. Morricone won the award for The Hateful Eight after receiving an honorary Oscar in 2007.
Once Upon a Time in the West: A 1968 Sergio Leone western whose score by Ennio Morricone gives each principal character a distinctive musical theme. Morricone composed its music before filming, allowing Leone to shape scenes around the score.
Musique concrète: Music made by organizing recorded sounds into compositions, often alongside conventional instruments. His scores sometimes treated whistles, bells, gunshots, and other sounds as musical material.
Giuseppe Tornatore: An Italian film director whose films include Cinema Paradiso and several collaborations with Ennio Morricone. Their partnership brought Morricone’s music to intimate dramas as well as large-scale cinema.
Goffredo Petrassi: An Italian composer who taught Ennio Morricone at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia. Petrassi’s instruction connected Morricone’s education to Italy’s modern classical music tradition.
Film score: Original or selected music used to accompany and shape a film’s scenes. His career expanded the expressive possibilities of film scoring through distinctive sounds and themes.