More than Spaghetti Westerns - The Legacy of Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone (1928 - 2020)

A commission from an old schoolmate catapulted him to stardom in the world of film music, but the legacy of Ennio Morricone’s scores for Sergio Leone’s “man with no name” trilogy wasn’t how Morricone saw himself.

The score for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) was unlike anything that had been heard in a western. Full of sound effects and electric guitar riffs, it was a fitting complement to the spare and gritty film. But this was more by happenstance than design. Leone’s budget was limited, so Morricone had to be creative in his approach.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Sequels and knockoffs cemented the Morricone “sound” to the general public. But Morricone himself chafed at this. "I am disturbed when people think about me as a specialist for Westerns," he once said. "They are only a relatively small percentage of the music I've written."

And Morricone wrote a lot of music. His body of work in films encompasses more than 400 scores, and he composed nearly 100 works for the concert stage. Throughout his career he stayed true to his Italian roots, living in Rome, and turning down offers to move to Hollywood.

On this week’’s Silver Screen Soundtrack Hour we’ll play music from a variety of Morricone’s scores, including cuts from The Untouchables (1987), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Cinema Paradiso (1988), The Mission (1968), and of course The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966).

Produced and hosted by Ken Nail, The Silver Screen Soundtrack Hour airs on Charlottesvilleclassical.org every Thursday at 9 AM and 6 PM, plus Saturdays at Noon. Visit our Facebook page, or contact Ken on Twitter at @ken_classical.