I grew up in Rome during World War II. First the Germans occupied the city, then the Allies arrived. Sometimes we didn’t have enough food. When the war ended, I found out what terrible events had happened in other places, and I realized that I was lucky."

Ennio Morricone was born in the family of jazz trumpeter Mario Morricone and housewife Libera Ridolfi. The boy was the eldest of 5 children. The creative atmosphere contributed to the fact that Ennio could not imagine himself without music.

Date of birth
November 10, 1928

Date of death
July 6, 2020

1938

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

At the age of 9, he entered
the Conservatory of St. Cecilia

1944

At the age of 16 , the second place of the trumpet in the ensemble of Alberto Flamini

1946

Diploma in pipe class

1952

Diploma in orchestra class (fanfare)

1953

Diploma in composition class

Salce invited Ennio Morricone to write music for the film "The Fascist Leader" — this is the composer’s official debut in film music.

After the Conservatory, Morricone made arrangements for famous composers and singers, wrote music for theatrical productions directed by Luciano Salce.

“Il federale” (1961)
comedy

The music written for Leone’s films has become a classic of the genre — he gained a reputation as a co-author of Leone and the author of music for spaghetti westerns.

As Leone’s biographer Christopher Frayling explains, the film was promoted as American in order to lure Italians tired of national westerns to cinemas.

The real fame for Morricone, as a composer, came after the music for the first film of the spaghetti western master Sergio Leone from the "dollar trilogy— - "For a handful of Dollars" (1964) with Clint Eastwood. It is noteworthy that in the credits the Italians passed under pseudonyms — Morricone was listed as Dan Savio, actor Jean Maria Volonte as Johnny Wells, and Leone himself as Bob Robertson.

“Per un pugno di dollari” (1964)
western

He did not speak English and, judging by the interview, he was rather cool about the Hollywood industry — he criticized composers for borrowing, for resorting to the help of arrangers.

Morricone composed music from and to and did not resort to the help of arrangers. He was generally quite principled and stubborn in his decisions. Despite his close ties to Hollywood, he continued to live in Rome.

Morricone was happily married to Maria Travia. The couple have been together for more than 50 years. The wife supported her husband in any endeavors. There was no room for quarrels in their union.

1957
1961
1964
1966

Children
Marko
Alessandra
Andrea
Giovanni

Spouse
Maria Travia

5 Euro, 2021, Italia

In 1977 he wrote the official theme for the FIFA World Cup, in 1978 - in Argentina.

Ennio used creative pseudonyms: Dan Savio and Leo Nichols.

He is recognized as one of the most famous composers of our time and one of the most famous film composers in the world.

One of Ennio Morricone’s hobbies is chess. His playing partners were, among others, famous Russian chess players — G. Kasparov and A. Karpov.

Morricone was nominated for an Oscar six times and received his first competitive statuette at the age of 88.

Metallica opened all its concerts with the composition The Ecstasy of Gold in the late 1980s.

Twice during his career he starred in films for which he wrote music, and in 1995 a documentary was made about him.

A favorite hit in Russia Chi Mai, associated with the French with … advertising dog food: The popular Royal Canin video was released in 1986.

A close friend of Ennio said that he managed to say goodbye to his family. In the last days of his life, his wife and children did not leave him for a minute.

On July 6, 2020, Ennio Morricone passed away. The cause of death of the famous composer was an injury received on the eve of his death — he fell and received a fracture.

Death of the maestro

From an obituary written by Morricone

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Based on Esquire materials