ROME (AFP)

The Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who died at the age of 91, has composed more than 500 film scores, entering legend with his symphonies mixing large orchestra and popular tradition for the master of spaghetti western Sergio Leone.

His most memorable composition will undoubtedly remain the haunting harmonica air played by Charles Bronson in "Il est une fois dans l'Ouest" (1968).

From the age of six, Ennio Morricone, born November 10, 1928 in Rome, began to compose. At ten, he enrolled in the trumpet course of the prestigious National Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome, where he was noticed by the great professor Goffredo Petrassi.

He also studies composition, orchestration, organ and is introduced to serial music.

After having started with "serious" music, he started in 1961 at the age of 33 in the cinema with "Mission ultra-secrète" by Luciano Salce. Finding the music for mediocre and poor Italian films, he wanted to renew them and impose a more "American" style.

The celebrity arrives with "For a handful of dollars" (1964) by Sergio Leone. His fruitful collaboration with the master of the spaghetti western brings him an international reputation.

But Morricone is not confined to the western. This Roman composes soundtracks for period films such as "1900" or "Vatel", comedies such as "La cage aux folles" and sets committed films to music: "Sacco and Vanzetti" ("Here's to You" sung by Joan Baez), "The working class goes to paradise" or "The battle of Algiers".

The recipe for its success: "When you enter a film, the music knocks on the door, it must prepare the spectator and leave without slamming the door, on tiptoe".

- Oscar winner late -

Discreet and homebody, Morricone hardly ever left his house near the Capitol in Rome. A bit shy, he was uncomfortable with the applause during his concerts.

Throughout his career, Morricone juggled between "light music" and classical, cinema and television.

The history of cinema will especially remember, besides of course "Once upon a time in the West", "Once upon a time in America" ​​and "The good, the bad and the ugly" by Sergio Leone, or "Theorem" by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Often, moreover, these masterpieces were first known and loved for their music. Morricone's genius lay in impurity, his seemingly anachronistic borrowing from neoclassicism and jazz, or even pop-rock.

He also has close to 80 classical, chamber music and orchestral compositions to his credit. Member of the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, he composed in particular for piano.

If he often looked worried, behind his stern glasses, the maestro also brilliantly conducted large orchestras, like that of Milan.

A great lover of the song, he teamed up with the Portuguese fado star Dulce Pontes for a record, "Focus" (Universal), and the French singer Mireille Mathieu for the album "Mireille Mathieu chante Ennio Morricone "(1974).

In 2007, he received an Oscar for his entire career, "a nice surprise" which he no longer expected, then another in 2016 for "Les quatre salopards" by Quentin Tarantino.

© 2020 AFP