A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4). Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef.

Variations in bass range

is highlighted in yellow.]]

The low extreme for basses is roughly C2 (two Cs below middle C). At the highest extreme, some basses can sing up to the A above middle C (A4).

Within opera, the lowest note in the standard bass repertoire is D2 (Osmin), but few roles fall below F2. Although Osmin's note is the lowest 'demanded' in the operatic repertoire, lower notes are heard, both written and unwritten: for example, it is traditional for basses to interpolate a low C in the duet "Ich gehe doch rathe ich dir" in the same opera. Other optional or traditional low Cs and Ds are sung. The high extreme: a few bass roles in the standard repertoire call for a high F or G (F4 and G4, the one above middle C), but few roles go over F4. In the bass repertoire, the highest note is an G4 (The Barber in The Nose by Shostakovich), therefore, very few basses can have this role in their repertoire.

Cultural influence and individual variation create a wide variation in range and quality of bass singers. Parts for basses have included notes as low as the B-flat two octaves and a tone below middle C (B1), for example in the Rachmaninov Vespers, and the G below that (e.g. Measure 76 of Ne otverzhi mene by Pavel Chesnokov). Many basses have trouble reaching those notes, and the use of them in works by Slavic composers has led to the colloquial term "Russian bass" for an exceptionally deep-ranged basso profondo who can easily sing these notes. Some traditional Russian religious music calls for A2 (110 Hz) drone singing, which is doubled by A1 (55 Hz) in the rare occasion that a choir includes exceptionally gifted singers who can produce this very low human voice pitch.

Many British composers such as Benjamin Britten have written parts for bass (such as the first movement of his choral work Rejoice in the Lamb) that center far higher than the bass tessitura as implied by the clef.

In choral music, voices are subdivided into first bass and second bass, no distinction being made between bass and baritone voices, in contrast to the three-fold (tenor-baritone-bass) categorization of solo voices. The exception is in arrangements for male choir (TTBB) and barbershop quartets (TLBB), which sometimes label the lowest two parts baritone and bass.

Bass roles in opera

In classical music, and particularly in opera, the following distinctions are often made among different kinds of bass voices:

Basso cantante/lyric high bass/lyric bass-baritone

Basso cantante means "singing bass". Basso cantante is a higher, more lyrical voice. It is produced using a more Italianate vocal production, and possesses a faster vibrato, than its closest Germanic/Anglo-Saxon equivalent, the bass-baritone.

;Roles

Duke Bluebeard Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók

Don Pizarro, Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven

Count Rodolfo, La sonnambula by Bellini

Blitch, Susannah by Carlisle Floyd

Méphistophélès, Faust by Charles Gounod

Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Voice of the Oracle, Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Boris, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky

Silva, Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi

Philip II, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi

Count Walter, Luisa Miller by Giuseppe Verdi

Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi

Daland, Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner

The King of Scotland, Ariodante by George Frideric Handel

Hoher Bass/dramatic high bass/dramatic bass-baritone

Hoher Bass or "high bass" or often a dramatic bass-baritone.

;Roles

Igor, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin

Boris, and Varlaam, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky

Klingsor, Parsifal by Richard Wagner

Wotan Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner

Caspar, Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber

Banquo, Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi

Zaccaria, Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi

Fiesco, Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi

Jugendlicher Bass

(Juvenile Bass) denotes the role of a young man sung by a bass, regardless of the age of the singer.

;Roles

Leporello, Masetto, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Colline, La bohème (Giacomo Puccini)

Basso buffo/bel canto/lyric buffo

Buffo, literally "funny", basses are lyrical roles that demand from their practitioners a solid coloratura technique, a capacity for patter singing and ripe tonal qualities if they are to be brought off to maximum effect. They are usually the blustering antagonist of the hero/heroine or the comic-relief fool in bel canto operas.

;Roles

Don Pasquale, Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti)

Dottor Dulcamara, L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti

Don Bartolo, The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini

Don Magnifico, La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini

Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Leporello, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Doctor, Wozzeck by Alban Berg

Schwerer Spielbass/dramatic buffo

English equivalent: dramatic bass

;Roles

Khan Konchak, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin

Baculus, Der Wildschütz (Albert Lortzing)

Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi

Daland, Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner

Lyric basso profondo

Basso profondo (lyric low bass), is the lowest bass voice type. According to J. B. Steane in Voices, Singers & Critics, the basso profondo voice "derives from a method of tone-production that eliminates the more Italian quick vibrato. In its place is a kind of tonal solidity, a wall-like front, which may nevertheless prove susceptible to the other kind of vibrato, the slow beat or dreaded wobble."

;Roles

Rocco, Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven

Osmin, Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sarastro, Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Pimen, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky

Baron Ochs, Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss

Dramatic basso profondo

English equivalent: dramatic low bass. Dramatic basso profondo is a powerful basso profondo voice.

;Roles

Il Commendatore, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Hagen, Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner

Heinrich, Lohengrin by Richard Wagner

Gurnemanz, Parsifal by Richard Wagner

Fafner, Das Rheingold and Siegfried by Richard Wagner

Marke, Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner

Hunding, Die Walküre by Richard Wagner

The Varangian (Viking) Guest, Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

The Grand Inquisitor, Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi

Claggart, Billy Budd (opera) by Benjamin Britten

Bass roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas

The Mikado of Japan (The Mikado)

Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance)

Adam Goodheart (Ruddigore)

Private Willis (Iolanthe)

Carpenter's mate (H.M.S. Pinafore)

Don Alhambra (The Gondoliers)

The Notary (The Sorcerer)

See also

Category of operatic basses

Oktavist

References

External links

Guide to the singing voice, BBC Wales

Basses in Bach’s vocal works

Typical ranges, Yale University Library Archive

Category:Voice types Category:Opera terminology Category:Bass (sound)

Panayoti Karousos is a renowned Greek-Canadian composer who brings to his music the philosophy and spiritualism of the Greek classics. He structures his works around Pythagorean mathematical forms and infuses them with modern styles such as those of Wagner, amongst others. The majestic sound of his work, The Spirit of Liberty, caused critics to acclaim it as a second national anthem of Greece. It was presented in Canada and New York with great success with the Astoria Symphony and maestro Silas Nathaniel Huff. Karousos presented his operas Prometheus, The Olympic Flame, Alexander the Great, The Holy Light of Christianity the oratorio The Song of the Nations and the symphonic poems Eternal Parthenon, Time Melody, and Democracy in Canada, which garnered him rave reviews. He did many concerts in Canada presenting his Symphonies Liberty Symphony and Olympic Symphony with the FACE Symphony Orchestra, the OSJL-L Symphony Orchestra and the Monteregie Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestros Andre Gauthier, Theodora Stathopoulos and Luc Chaput.

The Piano Concerto for Peace was presented with pianist Nathalie Joncas under UNESCOs auspices. This piece was highlighted by the Montreal Popular Concerts series in Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena to an audience of 5000 people.

The Piano Concerto became the soundtrack to filmmaker Jenna Constantine's movie If Aphrodite Had Arms. Karousos’ works are featured in the Vassilios Chrissochos’ action-adventure-comedy film Attila Attacks!

The Suite Montrealaise was commended from the City of Montreal to mark the Millennium and was successfully presented in a celebration concert on 1 October 2000.

Panayoti Karousos chamber music is different from the romanticism of his operas and symphonic works. The Piano Trios and the Violin and Cello Sonatas presented in Beverly Hills City Hall and around Montreal surprised the public with their melancholy nature and strong harmonic complexity.

As a singer and composer he collaborated with the Archbishop of Toronto Canada, Sotirios, in a 3 CD album named Greek Orthodox Catechism and performed for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. His album Grece Pays d’Amour got the award for Best Classical Recording in 2002/03 from the Toronto Radio Acropolis Awards.

The Olympic Flame was presented among other works with the Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of Gunst wat'n Kunst at Hague, Holland, with maestro Rafael Pylarinos. Panayoti Karousos Violin Concerto and Bouzouki Concerto were presented at the Concert for Religious Freedom hosted by the Federation of Hellenic Societies in New York, under the direction of maestro Grant Gilman. The World Premiere of his grandiose opera Alexander the Great presented in Montreal sung in French, with big success at the Montreal Notre Dame Basilica and represented in Chicago Illinois in English by the American Symphony Orchestra of Chicago and soloists from the opera of Chicago conducted by David Stech.

The opera Prometheus in English represented in Los Angeles with soloists from the Los Angeles opera and in New York by the Astoria Symphony and soloists and received amazing critics and reviews as a master peace work full of lyricism and melodic power.

Most recently Prometheus acclaimed as major modern opera work in Washington DC with the District of Columbia Symphony Orchestra and soloists conducted by Grant Gilman. Panayoti Karousos is a recipient of honors from the Federal Canadian Government, the Quebec Provincial Government and the City of Montreal.

References

External Links

Official Homepage

Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Greek composers Category:Canadian composers

Name	Ennio Morricone
Background	non_performing_personnel
Born	November 10, 1928
Alias	Maestro
Genre	Film music, Classical music, Pop music, Jazz, Lounge music, Easy listening
Origin	Rome, Italy
Occupation	Composer, orchestrator, music director, conductor, trumpeter
Associated acts	Bruno Nicolai, Alessandro Alessandroni, Mina, Yo-Yo Ma, Mireille Mathieu, Joan Baez, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Amii Stewart, Paul Anka, Milva, Gianni Morandi, Dalida, Catherine Spaak, Pet Shop Boys and others
Years active	1946 – present
Url	http://www.enniomorricone.it

Ennio Morricone, Grande Ufficiale OMRI (born November 10, 1928) is an Italian composer and conductor.

He is considered one of the most prolific and influential film composers of his era. Morricone has composed and arranged scores for more than 500 film and TV productions. He is well-known for his long-term collaborations with international acclaimed directors such as Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, and Giuseppe Tornatore.

He wrote the characteristic film scores of Leone's Spaghetti Westerns A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). In the 80s, Morricone composed the scores for John Carpenter's horror movie The Thing (1982), Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988). His more recent compositions include the scores for Oliver Stone's U Turn (1997), Tornatore's The Legend of 1900 (1998) and Malèna (2000), De Palma's Mission to Mars (2000), Lajos Koltai's Fateless (2005), and Tornatore's Baaria - La porta del vento (2009).

Morricone has won two Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, five Anthony Asquith Awards for Film Music by BAFTA in 1979–1992 and the Polar Music Prize in 2010. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score during 1979–2001. He received the Academy Honorary Award in 2007 "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music".

Life and career

Classical music

Ennio Morricone was born in Rome, the son of Libera and Mario Morricone, a jazz trumpeter. Morricone wrote his first compositions when he was six years old and was encouraged to develop these natural talents. Compelled to take up the trumpet, he had first gone to the National Academy of Santa Cecilia to take lessons on the instrument at the age of nine. Morricone formally entered the conservatory in 1940 at the age of 12, enrolling in a four-year harmony program. According to various reports, he completed it in either two years or six months (date approximate). He studied the trumpet, composition, choral music, and choral direction under Goffredo Petrassi, who deeply influenced him and to whom Morricone has dedicated concert pieces.

These were the difficult years of World War II in the heavily bombed "open city"; the composer remarked that what he mostly remembered of those years was the hunger. His wartime experiences influenced many of his scores for films set in that period.

After he graduated, he continued to work in classical composition and arrangement. In 1946, Morricone received his trumpet diploma and in the same year he composed "Il Mattino" ("The Morning") for voice and piano on a text by Fukuko, first in a group of 7 "youth" Lieder. Other serious compositions are "Imitazione" (1947) for voice and piano on a text by Giacomo Leopardi and "Intimita" for voice and piano on a text by Olinto Dini.

In the early 1950s, Morricone began writing his first background music for radio dramas. Nonetheless he continued composing classical pieces as "Distacco I e Distacco II" for voice and piano on a text by Ranieri Gnoli, "Verra' la Morte" for contralto and piano on a text by Cesare Pavese, "Oboe Sommerso" for baritone and five instruments on a text by Salvatore Quasimodo.

Although the composer had received the "Diploma in Instrumentation for Band" (fanfare) in 1952, his studies concluded in 1954, obtaining a diploma in Composition under the composer Goffredo Petrassi. In 1955, Morricone started to write or arrange music for films credited to other already well-known composers (ghost writing). He occasionally adopted Anglicized pseudonyms, such as Dan Savio and Leo Nichols.

Morricone wrote more works in the climate of the Italian avant-garde. A few of these compositions have been made available on CD, such as "Ut", his trumpet concerto dedicated to the soloist Mauro Maur, one of his favorite musicians; some have yet to be premiered. From the mid-sixties and onwards, he was part of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, a group of composers who performed and recorded avant garde free improvisations, even scoring a few films during the 1970's.

Early pop arrangements

In 1956, Morricone started to support his family by playing in a jazz band and arranging pop songs for the Italian broadcasting service RAI. Performed by Mina, it was a standout track of Studio Uno 66, the fifth-biggest-selling album of the year 1966 in Italy. Morricone's sophisticated arrangement of "Se telefonando" was a combination of melodic trumpet lines, Hal Blaine–style drumming, a string set, a '60s Europop female choir, and intensive subsonic-sounding trombones. The Italian Hitparade #7 song had eight transitions of tonality building tension throughout the chorus. In the reader's poll conducted by the la Repubblica newspaper to celebrate Mina's 70th anniversary in 2010, 30,000 voters picked the track as the best song ever recorded by Mina. Throughout the '60s Morricone composed songs for other artists including Milva, Gianni Morandi, Paul Anka, Amii Stewart, and Mireille Mathieu.

Leone film scores

Well-versed in a variety of musical idioms from his RCA experience, Morricone began composing film scores in the early 1960s. The scores included psychedelic accompaniment for Mario Bava's superhero romp (1968). The next year marked the start of a series of evocative scores for Dario Argento's stylized thrillers, including The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969), The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971), and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1974). and Le Professionnel (1981) as well as the TV series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981). Morricone worked as the conductor of seasons 3 to 5 of the series. He also worked as the music supervisor for the television project La bibbia ("The Bible"). In the late 1990s, he collaborated with his son, Andrea, on the Ultimo crime dramas. Their collaboration yielded the BAFTA-winning Nuovo cinema Paradiso. In 2003, Ennio Morricone scored another epic, for Japanese television, called Musashi and was the Taiga drama about Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's legendary warrior. A part of his "applied music" is now applied to Italian television films.

Tours

Since 2001, Morricone has been on a world tour, the latter part sponsored by Giorgio Armani, with the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta, touring London (Barbican 2001; 75th birthday Concerto, Royal Albert Hall 2003), Paris, Verona, and Tokyo. Morricone performed his classic film scores at the Munich Philharmonie in 2005 and Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in London, UK, on 2006-12-01 and 2006-12-02.

He made his North American concert debut on January 29, 2007 Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City and four days later at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The previous evening, Morricone had already presented at the United Nations a concert comprising some of his film themes, as well as the cantata Voci dal silenzio to welcome the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. A Los Angeles Times review bemoaned the poor acoustics and opined of Morricone: "His stick technique is adequate, but his charisma as a conductor is zero." Morricone, though, has said: "Conducting has never been important to me. If the audience comes for my gestures, they had better stay outside."

On December 12, 2007, Morricone conducted the Roma Sinfonietta at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, presenting a selection of his own works. Together with the Roma Sinfonietta and the Belfast Philharmonic Choir, Morricone performed at the Opening Concerts of the Belfast Festival at Queen's, in the Waterfront Hall on October 17 and 18, 2008. Morricone and Roma Sinfonietta also held a concert at the Belgrade Arena (Belgrade, Serbia) on February 14, 2009.

On April 10, 2010, Morricone conducted a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London with the Roma Sinfonietta and (as in all of his previous London concerts) the Crouch End Festival Chorus. On August 27, 2010, he conducted a concert in Hungary. Two other concerts took place in Verona and Sofia (Bulgaria) on 11 and 17 September 2010.

Academy Award

Morricone received an honorary Academy Award on February 25, 2007, presented by Clint Eastwood, "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." With the statuette came a standing ovation. Though nominated five times, he had not previously received an Oscar. In conjunction with the honor, Morricone released a tribute album, We All Love Ennio Morricone, that featured as its centerpiece Celine Dion's rendition of "I Knew I Loved You" (based on "Deborah's Theme" from Once Upon a Time in America), which she performed at the ceremony. Behind-the-scenes studio production and recording footage of "I Knew I Loved You" can be viewed in the debut episode of the QuincyJones.com Podcast. The lyric, as with Morricone's Love Affair, had been penned by Oscar-winning husband-and-wife duo Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Morricone's acceptance speech was in his native Italian tongue and was interpreted by Clint Eastwood, who stood to his left. Eastwood and Morricone had in fact met two days earlier—for the first time in 40 years—at a reception.

Morricone and Alex North are the only composers to receive the honorary Oscar since the award's introduction in 1928.

Recent activity

Morricone provided the string arrangements on Morrissey's "Dear God Please Help Me" from the album Ringleader of the Tormentors in 2006.

Quentin Tarantino originally wanted Morricone to compose the soundtrack for his most recent film, Inglourious Basterds. However, Morricone refused because of the sped-up production schedule of the film. Tarantino did use several Morricone tracks from previous films in the soundtrack.

Morricone instead wrote the music for Baaria - La porta del vento, the most recent movie by Giuseppe Tornatore. The composer is also writing music for Tornatore's upcoming movie Leningrad.

Personal life

On 13 October 1956, he married Maria Travia and had his first son, Marco, in 1957. Travia has written lyrics to complement her husband's pieces. Her works include the Latin texts for The Mission. They have three sons and a daughter, in order of birth: Marco, Alessandra, Andrea [Andrew], and Giovanni.

Prizes and awards

1965 — Nastro d'Argento for A Fistful of Dollars

1967 — Diapason d'Or

1969 — Premio Spoleto Cinema

1970 — Nastro d'argento for Metti una sera a cena

1971 — Nastro d'argento for Sacco e Vanzetti

1972 — Cork Film International for La califfa

1979 — Oscar Nomination for Days of Heaven

1979 — Premio Vittorio de Sica

1981 — Premio della critica discografica for Il prato

1984 — Premio Zurlini

1985 — Nastro d'argento and BAFTA for Once Upon A Time In America

1986 — Oscar Nomination, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for The Mission

1986 — Premio Vittorio de Sica

1988 — Nastro d'argento, BAFTA, Grammy Award and Oscar Nomination for The Untouchables

1988 — David di Donatello for Gli occhiali d'oro

1989 — David di Donatello for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

1989 — Ninth Annual Ace Winner for Il giorno prima

1989 — Pardo d'Oro alla carriera (Locarno Film Festival)

1990 — BAFTA, Prix Fondation Sacem del XLIII Cannes Film Festival and David di Donatello for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

1991 — David di Donatello for Stanno tutti bene

1992 — Oscar Nomination for Bugsy

1992 — Pentagramma d'oro

1992 — Premio Michelangelo

1992 — Grolla d'oro alla carriera (Saint Vincent)

1993 — David di Donatello and Efebo d'Argento for Jonas che visse nella balena

1993 — Globo d'oro Stampa estera in Italia

1993 — Gran Premio SACEM audiovisivi

1994 — ASCAP Golden Soundtrack award (Los Angeles)

1995 — Premio Rota

1995 — Leone d'Oro Honorary award (Venice Film Festival)

1996 --Premio citta' di Roma

1996 — Premio Cappelli

1996 — Premio Accademia di Santa Cecilia

1997 — Premio Flaiano

1998 — Columbus Prize

1999 — Erich Wolfgang Korngold Internationaler Preis für Film

1999 — Exsquibbidles Film Academy lifetime achievement award

2000 — Golden Globe Award for The Legend of 1900 (1998)

2000 — David di Donatello for Canone inverso

2000 — Oscar nomination for Malèna

2002 — Honorary Degree by the "Seconda Università" of Rome

2003 — Golden Eagle Award for 72 Meters

2003 — Honorary Senator of the Filmscoring Class of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München

2006 — Grand Officer award from President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

2007 — Honorary Academy Award for career achievement

2007 — The Film & TV Music Award for Lifetime Achievement

2008 — Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental, performed by Bruce Springsteen

2008 — Knight in the Order of the Legion of Honor

2009 — Medal of Merits for Macedonia

2009 — America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation

2010 — Polar Music Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of the Arts

Discography

Ennio Morricone has sold over 50 million records worldwide, including 6.5 million copies in France and more than two million albums in Korea.

Top worldwide film grosses

Ennio Morricone has been involved with eight movies grossing over $25 million at the box office:

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Title !! Director !! Gross |- | 1966 || The Good, The Bad & The Ugly || Sergio Leone || $25,100,000 |- | 1977 || || John Boorman || $30,749,142 |- | 1987 || The Untouchables || Brian De Palma || $76,270,454 |- | 1991 || Bugsy || Barry Levinson || $49,114,016 |- | 1993 || In the Line of Fire || Wolfgang Petersen || $176,997,168 |- | 1994 || Wolf || Mike Nichols || $131,002,597 |- | 1994 || Disclosure || Barry Levinson || $214,015,089 |- | 2000 || Mission to Mars || Brian De Palma || $110,983,407 |}

Other successful movies with Morricone's work are Kill Bill 1 & 2 (2001) and Inglourious Basterds (2009), though the tracks used are sampled from older pictures.

Influence

Morricone's influence extends into the realm of pop music. Hugo Montenegro had a hit with a version of the main theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This was followed by his album of Morricone's music in 1968.

Aside from his music having been sampled by everyone from rappers (Jay-Z) to electronic outfits (the Orb), Morricone wrote "Se Telefonando", which became Italy's fifth biggest-selling record of 1966 and has since been re-recorded by Françoise Hardy, among many others, and scored the strings for "Dear God, Please Help Me" on Morrissey's 2006 "Ringleader of the Tormentors" album.

Morricone's film music was also recorded by many artists. John Zorn recorded an album of Morricone's music, The Big Gundown, with Keith Rosenberg in the mid-1980s. Lyricists and poets have helped convert some of his melodies into a songbook.

Morricone collaborated with world music artists, like Portuguese fado singer Dulce Pontes (in 2003 with Focus, an album praised by Paulo Coelho and where his songbook can be sampled) and virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma (in 2004), who both recorded albums of Morricone classics with the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra and Morricone himself conducting.

Metallica uses Morricone's The Ecstasy of Gold as an intro at their concerts (shock jocks Opie and Anthony also use the song at the start of their XM Satellite Radio and CBS Radio shows.) The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra also played it on Metallica's Symphonic rock album S&M;. Ramones used the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a concert intro. The theme from A Fistful Of Dollars is also used as a concert intro by The Mars Volta.

His influence extends from Michael Nyman to Muse. He even has his own tribute band, a large group which started in Australia, touring as The Ennio Morricone Experience.

In 2007, the tribute album We All Love Ennio Morricone was released. It features performances by various artists, including Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen and Metallica.

Lead singer Adam Trula of the rock group Murder By Death has cited Morricone as a major influence of the band, and their 2008 album Red of Tooth and Claw features the track "Theme (For Ennio Morricone)," an instrumental arrangement styled after Morricone's western sountracks.

British band Babe Ruth has covered several of his themes, most prominently in their song "The Mexican". The adventure video game Wild Arms by PlayStation features a soundtrack which is reminiscent of his work and includes a theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly soundtrack.

In January, 2010, tenor Donald Braswell II released his album "We Fall and We Rise Again" on which he presented his tribute to Ennio Morricone with his original composition entitled "Ennio".

Trivia

The 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 makes extensive use of several Morricone pieces from several 1960s film scores. The 2009 film Inglourious Basterds also uses many Morricone pieces, as well as sharing "Il Mercenario (Ripresa)" with Kill Bill.

Ciarán Farrell was one of Ennio Morricone's students.

In 1990 the American singer Amii Stewart, best known for the 1979 disco hit "Knock On Wood", recorded a tribute album entitled Pearls - Amii Stewart Sings Ennio Morricone for the RCA label, including a selection of the composer's best known songs. Since the mid 1980s Stewart resides in Italy, the Pearls album features Rome's Philharmonic Orchestra and was co-produced by Morricone himself.

Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield of Metallica are fans of Morricone; from whom they took inspiration to write many songs, such as The Unforgiven (song).

The asteroid 152188 Morricone was named in Morricone's honour on 2007-06-01.

NBC Sports borrowed Morricone's theme from The Untouchables for use during the closing credits of their coverage of the 2000 American League Championship Series. This was accompanied by a video montage commemorating the network's final Major League Baseball telecast.

Mr. Bungle have covered several Morricone songs live including Muscoli Di Velluto from Malamondo and Main themes from Città Violenta, Una Lucertola Con La Pelle di Donna and Metti, Una Sera a Cena.

Fantômas did a cover of the main theme to Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion on their album The Director's Cut — an album of film soundtrack covers.

Chico Buarque recorded an album with Morricone in 1970 called Per Un Pugno di Samba when the former was exiled from Brazil.

Wall of Voodoo, of "Mexican Radio" fame, would perform medleys of famous pieces by Morricone at early live shows, as heard on their EP/live album The Index Masters.

Jackass Number Two uses his song "Ecstasy of Gold" at the beginning of the movie.

Rapper Immortal Technique samples "Ecstasy of Gold" in his song "Land of the Gun".

Italian thrash metal band Schizo recorded a cover of Morricone's "The Sicilian Clan" original soundtrack song for their 2007 album "Cicatriz Black".

The Vandals, in their 1984 album "Peace thru Vandalism", play their own version of the famous theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the introduction to the "Urban Struggle" track.

The English pop band Erasure covered the main theme of the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in 1988 as a B-side of their single Chains of Love. The band also performed this theme live during all the concerts of its 1992 tour.

Hans Zimmer's Parlay in Soundtrack is a tribute to Ennio Morricone's Man with a Harmonica.

Graeme Revell's scores was thought to have been inspired by Ennio Morricone's cult film and speghetti western scores.

British band Muse cites Morricone as an influence for the songs City of Delusion, Hoodoo, and Knights of Cydonia on their album, Black Holes and Revelations.. The band has recently started playing the song "Man With A Harmonica" live played by Chris Wolstenholme, as an intro to Knights of Cydonia.

The ambient electronic act The Orb sampled Morricone's "The Man With The Harmonica" (from the film Once Upon a Time in the West) in the opening to their 1990 single "Little Fluffy Clouds".

The final installment of the massively popular video game series, Metal Gear Solid, uses in Morricone's song "Here's to You", taken from the film Sacco e Vanzetti.

Inti-Illimani, in their 2004 Italian concert and album "Viva Italia", play their tribute of the Love Theme from "Cinema Paradiso".

The generic of Italiques 70's show produced by Marc Gilbert on French television used the soundtrack of Dio è con noi of Ennio Morricone, with a motion picture of Jean-Michel Folon that stayed the generic of the public channel for twenty years.

On 13 August 2008 at Marlay Park in Dublin, Christopher Wolstenholme of Muse Played Ennio's "Man with the Harmonica" on harmonica before the band ended their set with Knights of Cydonia (A song with Morricone's classical influence).

The Bandini remix of the Ecstasy of Gold is used in Nike's "Leave Nothing" commercial with Ladainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu and directed by David Fincher.

Jay-Z rapped over "Ecstasy of Gold" in the track "Blueprint2" off of "The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse".

Chi Mai is used in song Heartless by Black Attack from 1998.

Independent pro wrestler Eddie Kingston uses The Ecstasy of Gold as his entrance music.

The UK electronic band The Prodigy sampled The Big Gundown into their version of the song. Which can be found on the Lost Beats EP included with the 2009 album Invaders Must Die.

American thrash metal band Metallica plays "The Ecstasy of Gold" soundtrack before they play their set at almost every concert. They have been doing so since the 1980s.

The Book of Eli (2010) film depicts Ray Stevenson whistling Once Upon a Time in America in a car while examining a machete.

Canadian band Les Georges Leningrad recorded a song entitled "Ennio Morricone".

The UK band Mamma Freedom who are on the same roster as Ennio Morricone cite him as an influence on their more orchestral songs.

Morricone's "Tema Di Alì" from The Battle of Algiers is used in the Michael Jordan "Field Generals" Nike Commercial.

The teaser trailer for Frank Miller's The Spirit used Morricone's opening theme from The Untouchables.

Sources

Horace, B. Music from the Movies, film music journal double issue 45/46, 2005: ISSN 0967-8131

Miceli, Sergio. Morricone, la musica, il cinema. Milan: Mucchi/Ricordi, 1994: ISBN 88-7592-398-1

Miceli, Sergio. "Morricone, Ennio". The Nesw Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 3. Dal 1960 al 1969. Gremese, 1993: ISBN 88-7605-593-2

Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 4. Dal 1970 al 1979* A/L. Gremese, 1996: ISBN 88-7605-935-0

Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 4. Dal 1970 al 1979** M/Z. Gremese, 1996: ISBN 88-7605-969-5

Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 5. Dal 1980 al 1989* A/L. Gremese, 2000: ISBN 88-7742-423-0

Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 5. Dal 1980 al 1989** M/Z. Gremese, 2000: ISBN 88-7742-429-X

References

Further reading

Lhassa, Anne, and Jean Lhassa: Ennio Morricone: biographie. Les Planches. Lausanne: Favre; [Paris]: [diff. Inter-forum], 1989. ISBN 2-8289-0418-0,

Wagner, Thorsten. "Improvisation als 'weiteste Ausdehnung des Begriffs der aleatorischen Musik': Franco Evangelisti und die Improvisationsgruppe Nuova Consonanza". In ...hin zu einer neuen Welt: Notate zu Franco Evangelisti, edited by Harald Muenz,.48-60, 2002. Saarbrücken: Pfau-Verlag. ISBN 3-89727-177-X.

Webb, Michael D. Italian 20th Century Music: The Quest for Modernity. London: Kahn & Averill. ISBN 978-1-871082-89-0

External links

Ennio Morricone myspace

The Ennio Morricone Online Community

Once upon a Time in the West">Streaming audio of Morricone's "The Man with the Harmonica," from his soundtrack to Once upon a Time in the West

TÊTE-À-TÊTE: Ennio Morricone by Nic Harcourt at Los Angeles Times Magazine

Category:1928 births Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Italian composers Category:Italian film score composers Category:Living people Category:People from Rome (city) Category:Spaghetti Western composers