Farewell to the great Ennio Morricone. The musician, conductor and composer of some of the most famous film soundtracks of the twentieth century passed away on the morning of July 6 in Rome where he was hospitalized due to the consequences of a fall that had caused his femur to break. He was 91 years old.
The funeral will be held privately "in respect of the feeling of humility that has always inspired the acts of his existence". This was announced by the family through their friend and lawyer Giorgio Assumma. Morricone, the note reads, died "at dawn on 6 July in Rome with the comfort of faith". “There is only one reason that drives me to greet everyone like this and to have a private funeral: I do not want to bother", wrote Morricone himself. Assumma added that the star "he kept full lucidity and great dignity right up to the end”.
The lawyer then read the obituary written in his own hand by the Master and found by the family. “I Ennio Morricone am dead. This is how I announce it to all the friends who have been close to me and also to those a little far away, whom I greet with great affection. It's impossible to name them all."
Morricone mentions “Peppuccio (Giuseppe Tornatore), his sisters, his sons and his nephews. “I hope they understand how much I loved them”, he adds and then reserve the last thought for his wife Maria. “To you I renew the extraordinary love that has kept us together and that I am sorry to abandon. – concludes the Master -. To you the most painful farewell ".
During his long career, which began in the fifties, Morricone he has composed more than 500 melodies for cinema and television. In addition to having created some of the most famous soundtracks in the history of cinema, in the 60s he worked as an arranger, working on songs such as "Pinne Rifle ed Occhiali" and "Guarda come dondolo" by Edoardo Vianello, "Sapore di sale" by Gino Paoli and "If telephoning" by Mina.
In the same years it began his successful collaboration with director Sergio Leone, for which he composed the soundtracks of the films "Spagnetti-western". The first, in '64, was "A Fistful of Dollars", which was followed by "For a Few Dollars More", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", Once Upon a Time in the West", "Down the head”, and years later “Once upon a time in America”.
Morricone also collaborated with many other authors including John Carpenter, Brian DePalma, Roland Joffé, Oliver Stone and titles like “The Untouchables” or “Mission”. In Italy he worked side by side with Elio Petri, for whom Morricone invented the sounds of "Indagine su un citizen", and Gillo Pontecorvo, who wrote with him the score of the "Battle of Algiers" which inspired him "Queimada" and which will be closest friends to the end.
Morricone won two Oscars, one for his career in 2007 and one for the best soundtrack of the film "The Hateful Eight" by Quentin Tarantino in 2016. During his career he had five other nominations for "Days of Heaven", "Mission", "The Untouchables – The untouchables”, “Bugsy” and “Malèna”.
Last April, during the lockdown due to the coronavirus emergency, Morricone had greeted the audience of the National Academy during the lockdown in a video published on the website of the musical institution on the occasion of Christmas in Rome. ”I think next season will be beautiful. We will see you in the great Hall of Santa Cecilia. Now stay home,” he said.
