Ennio Morricone at the La Scala Theater: after receiving the Oscar award for his career, Italy celebrates him in the “temple of music”.

Monday, April 16, 2007, the  La Scala Theater hosted an unforgettable evening for all great music lovers.   Maestro Ennio Morricone, in fact, conducted the  La Scala Philharmonic and the La Scala Philharmonic Choir  in an extraordinary concert, presented by Giorgio Armani, on behalf of the  Don Giuseppe Zilli Association for the family and social communications – Onlus.

After 45 years of success that led to the prestigious  Honorary Oscar award for his career that was given to him last February 25th in Los Angeles,  Ennio Morricone was celebrated yesterday in the  “temple of music”, where he conducted the orchestra as it played the most famous soundtracks he composed for some of the most beautiful movies of the past decades. This concert also represented a new collaboration between Maestro Morricone and the La Scala Philharmonic, after the extremely successful cycle of concerts held in the most important arenas throughout Italy in the summer of 2006.

In addition to being an evening dedicated to music, and a unique occasion for expressing affection and gratitude to who has contributed so much in making Italy famous world-wide,  this prestigious event allowed for those present to contribute to a solidarity project in favor of the Don Giuseppe Zilli Onlus Association in support of families and social communication.

The Association, headed by Don Leonardo Zega, was founded in 1980 by a group of monks, brothers and friends of Don Zilli, to remember his intense journalistic and editorial activity. The Association promotes the formation, development and stability of the family according to Christian values, with particular attention given to the field of social communications, in collaboration with the magazine, Famiglia Oggi; and manages the Caso della Settimana (Case of the Week), a solidarity initiative promoted by  Famiglia Cristiana to offer concrete help to persons in need.

The event was realized thanks to the prestigious support of Valtur, Lancia, Meliorbanca and Gruppo Edoardo Caltagirone, and received Patronage from  the President of the Republic, the Regione Lombardia aid society, the sponsorship of the  Presidency of the Council of Ministries,  the Cultural Goods and Activities Ministry, the Province of Milan and the City of Milan.

BMG Ricordi is proud to have 73 soundtracks written by Ennio Morricone in its catalogue and to be considered, according to the numbers, as his main editor.

The collaboration between the Maestro and Casa Ricordi began in 1963 with the music for  "I Basilischi"  and continued successfully in 1964 with the legendary "Per un pugno di dollari”.

In 1997, 34 years later, the collaboration has resulted in the music for the movie  "La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano" (“The Legend of 1900”), with other projects that will be developed starting 2007.

Some of his most important successes are:

La battaglia di Algeri (1966)

C'era una volta il west (1968)

La classe operaia va in Paradiso (1971)

Il Ladrone (1979)

Legami! (1989)

Sacco e Vanzetti (1971)

Viaggio nel terrore (Il sequestro dell'Achille Lauro)(1989)



Maestro Ennio Morricone

 

Ennio Morricone, a legendary name in the international movie music industry, was born in Rome on November 10, 1928, the first of 5 children:  his father, Mario, played the trumpet and his mother,  Libera Ridolfi, was a housewife.  Morricone began attending the S. Cecilia Conservatory of Music at the age of 10, in the trumpet class held by Umberto Semproni.  His complementary harmony teacher, Roberto Caggiano, immediately was able to understand the precocious talents of Ennio and suggests he study composition, which he does in 1944.

Two years later, he received his diploma in trumpet playing, and composed “Il Mattino”, for voice and piano on a text by Fukuko, the first of a series of 7 young Lieders.  In this period, he began working as instrumentalist and arranger in music halls.  Afterwards, he composed “Imitazione”, for voice and piano on text by Giacomo Leopardi and received his first commission for composing the incidental music for prose theatre.

A few years later, he attended the third and last year of choral music and choir conducting at the Conservatory, but he withdrew before receiving his diploma.

In 1952, he received his diploma in band orchestration, composed "Barcarola funebre" for piano  and "Preludio a una Novella senza titolo", in addition to writing the music for radio plays. He then wrote "Verrà la morte", for contralto and piano on text by Cesare Pavese, "Oboe sommerso" for baritone and five instruments on text by  Salvatore Quasimodo. Two years later, he received his diploma in Composition under the guidance of Maestro  Goffredo Petrassi.

In 1955, Ennio Morricone began what would become known as his true activity, when he began arranging music for movies.  After his son Marco was born from his wife, Maria Travia, Morricone started looking for work in order to cover the expenses that come from having a family:  he was hired in RAI  as a music assistant, but he resigned the first day on the job.  He continued to collaborate as a music arranger for television variety shows.

In 1961, his daughter Alessandra was born and he wrote his first soundtrack for the movie,  "Il federale" by Luciano Salce.  Three years later, his third child, Andrea, was born and he began a collaboration that would remain in history:  his collaboration with Sergio Leone and his Western movies ("Per un pugno di dollari", 1964 - "Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo", 1966) that would make him famous.  Sergio Leone also directed the pluri-award winning movie  "C'era una volta in America".

During this period, he recorded numerous successes as an arranger under the RCA music label, with songs such as “Sapore di Sale” and “il Mondo”.

After being part of the jury at the XX International Cannes Film Festival, and after his fourth child was born, Morricone reduced his activity as arranger to dedicate more time to movie soundtracks, composing dozens over the next several years:  more than 400 in his long and prestigious career, in collaboration with the most important Italian directors.  

Here are just a few: Bernardo Bertolucci ("Prima della rivoluzione", 1964 - "Partner", 1968), Marco Bellocchio ("I pugni in tasca", 1965 - "La Cina è vicina", 1967), De Seta ("Un uomo a metà", 1966), Patroni Griffi ("Un tranquillo posto di campagna", 1968 - "Metti una sera a cena", 1969), Pier Paolo Pasolini ("Uccellacci e uccellini", 1966 - "Teorema", 1968), Gillo Pontecorvo ("La battaglia di Algeri", 1966), Carlo Lizzani ("Mussolini ultimo atto", 1974) and Dario Argento; in addition to numerous international directors such as Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone.

In the 90’s, Ennio Morricone received an infinite number of recognitions: proposed for an honoris causa doctorate at the University of Goeteborg by the English musicologist, Philip Tagg, nominated member of the Artistic Commission of the University Institution of Concerts in Rome and asked to be a member of the jury at the 29th Film Festival in Venice.  In 1992, the French Cultural Minister, Jack Lang, conferred the title of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts ed des Lettres to Morricone.  In 1994, he was the first non-American composer to receive the SPFM (Society for Preservation of Film Music) career award.

His cultural commitment should also be remembered:  along with Michele Campanella, Uto Ughi and Vittorio Antonellini he was a speaker at the conference on political and economic problems regarding music, organized by  CAMI (Autonomous Committee of Italian Musicians) at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome in 1995.

In the same year, the honor of “Commendatore” of the Italian Republic was conferred upon Morricone by the President of the Council of Ministers, Lamberto Dini, and the President of the Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.

On September 28, 2002,  Maestro Ennio Morricone began a new adventure and a new artistic life at the Arena in Verona, by dedicating himself to orchestra conducting. In 2004 in Verona, in the most important open-air theatre in the world, on September 11th (a sad and unforgettable date in history), Morricone conducted a concert “against all the massacres of mankind” where he presented his composition “Voci del silenzio” (“Voices of silence”) for the first time.

In 2007, the American Academy Awards presented Ennio Morricone with a special Oscar award for his career.