It came as a complete surprise, because I am only the second score writer ever to receive one. When I answered the phone just before going to bed, and heard someone say “Buongiorno” with a broad American accent at the other end of the line, I immediately understood everything.
Although I had been nominated five times, I had not previously received an Oscar. Above all I want to thank for this award my wife Maria for her patience.
Which of your works did you perform last month when you were in America to collect the award?
I've been to the US about 10 times. This last time I conducted a welcome concert at the United Nations headquarters for the new Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. On that occasion, it was February 2, I performed my ususal film score repertoires, but also the choral symphonic piece Voci dal Silenzio (Voices from the Silence), which commemorates the victims of 9/11 and, beyond that, the victims of all terrorist attacks in the world. The following evening there was another concert at Radio City Music Hall, and for that occasion the Museum of Modern Art put on a retrospective of some of the films for which I had written music.
How did you become a musician, and what led you eventually to film score writing?
I was born into a musical family. My father was a trumpet player, and through him I learned to love that instrument. Then I began taking trumpet classes at the Santa Cecilia conservatory when I was ten. One of the teachers there, Maestro Roberto Caggiano, thought I had potential and suggested I study composing. He himself gave me lessons on the principles of harmony and, thanks to him, I passed a four year course with flying colours after only six months. He was so pleased with my various achievements that he used to show off my compositions to his colleagues, who were usually full of praise for them. He urged me to continue composing and so, when I had received my trumpet diploma, I began studying composition with the maestros Carlo Giorgio Garofalo and Antonio Ferdinandi, and I was on the road to becoming a concert composer. However, I soon realised that that profession was not at all remunerative, and so, as a sideline, I took on some orchestration and musical arrangement work for some record companies and for radio and television. After a short time, my name began to circulate in the showbusiness field. In 1961, the director Luciano Salce asked me to compose the music for his film Il Federale and there began my relationship with the cinema. It is a relationship which has given me a great deal of satisfaction.
The English playwright George Lillo once said, “There’s no passion in the human soul, but finds its food in music”. Do you agree?
Although I understand Lillo’s sentiments, I don’t think all the questions within the human soul can find their answer in music. Our soul is intangible, abstract, and it is no coincidence that music itself is an abstract concept. However, the world of sounds is a world in itself, like the skies or the underwater world. I can accept that there is a certain analogy between the human soul and musical sounds, in an abstract way, but I don’t believe that this relationship is fundamental. Many people can have the deepest of feelings without being in any way musical.
Do you think that a piece of music can provoke fear, calm, meditation...
Music per se doesn’t represent all these feelings, because it is a collection of sounds which is external to us, something which does not, fundamentally, form part of our spiritual activity. It is our ego which is the interpreter of music and sounds. In my opinion this interpretation is always arbitrary. You might interpret a piece of music in one way, and I in another. The difference is in the interpretation, and this makes music something which is ‘non-absolute’. This is the beauty of music – that everyone can listen to the same piece of music and have a completely different sensation from the others who hear it.
You have composed over 500 scores for films, TV movies and documentaries. Were they all works which satisfied you?
Not all of them, but you can’t always choose what you do in the world of cinema. Moreover, human relationships are at stake. The fact that the director who calls me in is a friend who needs my help is enough to justify my doing the best I possibly can for him. There’s something else to add: when a composer writes the music for a film, he usually sees an unfinished version, and can thus make no judgement, since the work is incomplete. A composer can only work with the plot of the story, and scenes which have not been mixed yet, and therefore has to base much of the work only on what the director tells him or her, and on the understanding that exists between them.
When does the creative process begin for a score writer?
Generally after filming, although a composer can begin earlier, basing his ideas on the script of the film. But generally, the score or the soundtrack is only applied after filming, after editing, but before mixing.
The composer Adolf Deutsch compared the work of a score writer to that of an undertaker insofar as “they can both improve the state of the corpse, but rarely can they bring it back to life”. Is this an accurate definition of your work?
This is probably also what Bernard Herman said to Brian De Palma. The composer can ‘dress’ a film well, but he can’t revive it. This is a rather accurate and witty statement, because effectively the music is never better than the film it accompanies; they share the same fate. A good score can certainly embellish a film, but it can’t make a good film out of a bad one.
At the end of the 1980s you said that you were determined to stop writing music for the cinema and concentrate on writing music, which was dictated by your internal needs. What did you mean?
I wanted to give all my attention to writing concert music. I still haven’t kept this promise, which I make every ten years, perhaps because cinema has always given me a great deal of satisfaction. I have to say that, although I haven’t totally stopped writing for the cinema, I have dramatically reduced my output and, since the 1980s, I have started writing concert music again.
How would you define God?
That’s not an easy question. The mystery of God’s presence is something which lies outside the bounds of our understanding. God is a Superior Entity, the Creator of the universe. We know that His Son came to earth to redeem us, and we look to Him when we are in trouble, or even when we are not. I believe that faith in Him is extremely important because, without faith, one has no interior compass by which to guide one’s existence.
How do you feel when you go into a church?
I have always had a spiritual relationship with God. For some years now, I have been more attentive towards my spiritual life. I don’t know why, but it feels right. I pray and take Communion every day. I go to church at seven in the morning, but I don’t often go to Confession because I don’t tend to do too many bad things. I go to church because I feel I owe my devotion to the Divine Presence Who is particularly present in that place.
Statistically speaking, Saint Anthony is the world’s best-loved Saint. Does he represent something for you?
I remember how devoted my grandmother and mother were to him when I was a boy. They used to get the Messenger from Padua, and read to me about Saint Anthony’s miracles. It is difficult for me to believe in all the miracles mentioned, although I have to say that I was always very attentive, and some of their devotion rubbed off on me.
What do you think of the music which is played in church these days?
Some days ago, I went to Santa Maria degli Angeli, a church designed by Michelangelo. Some young people were livening up the Mass, playing the guitar and singing rather well; but their songs were pretty hopeless. It was incredible, as though we had returned to times before the Council of Trent when people used to put the words of hymns to popular tunes, and put rude and unpleasant words to hymnal music. It seems we’ve gone back to this stage, and nothing is being done to improve the situation. With Vatican II, the Catholic Church abolished Gregorian chants, which was of an extraordinary historical value in musical terms. I can’t understand why, and it anguishes and irritates me. I can understand why Mass is said in various languages, but I will never understand the abolition of Latin hymns and Gregorian music.
You are a very busy man. How do you spend your spare time?
I love playing chess. I'm always studying new and better strategies and, believe it or not, despite my age my ambition is to become a world chess champion.
What are your favourite dishes?
I guess I'm rather traditional as far as eating goes. My tastes are still very much Italian. One of my favourite dishes is spaghetti with fresh and seasoned tomato sauce, basil and grated parmisan cheese.
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COMPOSER-CONDUCTOR Ennio Morricone, who has composed over 500 scores for films, TV movies and documentaries, was born in Rome in 1928. He was educated at the Conservatory of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the trumpet and composition under Goffredo Petrassi, and choral music and choral direction.
He began writing music for films in 1961, and eventually began a famous collaboration with directors Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci. For Leone he wrote the score for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and continued with a number of other Spaghetti Western films.
He received his first Nastro d’Argento in 1970 for the music in Metti, una Sera a Cena, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, and his second only a year later for Sacco and Vanzetti, directed by Guiliano Montaldo. He received his first nomination for an Academy Award in 1979 for the score to Days of Heaven, directed by Terrence Malick. Afterwards he recived other four nominations: in 1986 for The Mission, directed by Roland Joffé, in 1987 for The Untouchables, directed by Brian De Palma, in 1991 for Bugsy, directed by Barry Levinson, and in 2001 for Malèna, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.
He has also received 4 Bafta awards, 1 Grammy Award, 1 Golden Globe and the Leone d’Oro at the Venice film festival for his career’s work.
Morricone has composed memorable scores for such international titles titles as Bulworth, In the Line of Fire, La Cage aux Folles, and Two Mules for Sister Sara. His current project, Leningrad, has been announced for a 2008 release.
Morricone performed his classic film scores at the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in London, UK, on December 1 and 2, 2006, and made his North American concert debut on February 3, 2007 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He then received an honorary Academy Award on February 25, 2007 “for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music”.
He is married to Maria and has four children.
Updated on October 06 2016