Ennio Morricone And The Film Scores Of The Three Spaghetti Westerns

INTRODUCTION

Ennio Morricone and the film scores of the three spaghetti westerns overviewed in the following paragraphs, “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” were benchmark compositions of their time. The music for these films were the first of their kind where the music was not subordinate to the visuals, but were on the same level. Through the music of the three movies, one gains a good sense of the composer, Ennio Morricone’s music. By reviewing his life, one can appreciate the process of becoming a famous movie composer. His blurring of diegetic and non-diegetic music in these films was groundbreaking for its time. Despite being from a foreign country- Italy, his compositions transcend continents. Morricone’s groundbreaking, musical ingenuity affects the way ‘Hollywood’ film scores are written to this day.

EARLY LIFE

Morricone started his career in music by taking trumpet lessons from his father at the age of six. At the same time Morricone began to compose. As an adolescent he was enrolled in the Rome Conservatory for music. He then was enrolled in the national conservatory at Santa Cecilia where he studied the trumpet. While there he was also enrolled into harmony classes where he completed the four years of study in six months. His teacher at that time was Goffredo Petrassi. Petrassi was one of the top modernist composers of his time. During his time in school Morricone began to write music for radio stations. Once he graduated from the conservatory he began to work with RCA (Radio Corporation of America). During this time he wrote and arranged numerous songs for artists. His compositions were sung by elite artists of the time such as Chet Baker, Jimmy Fontana, and ...

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...c on tours throughout Europe. He also still plays as a freelance musician. He has been married to his wife since 1956, and has five children. He is a true composer in the sense that he wakes up nearly every morning and composes music.

CONCLUSION

Ennio Morricone’s scores to the three spaghetti westerns “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For A Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” have proven to be a benchmark for other composers to base their own film scores on. The blending of diegetic and non-diegetic music in films creates a new genre of films where the music and screenplay work together to create a masterpiece. We can learn through these scores how Morricone tends to compose his music to play more than just a supporting role in his films. The use of unconventional instruments in all three compositions sets them apart from those of movies before it.