The last, and for me the greatest film-melodist, has passed. Sadly, he outlived the time when melodic - or great leitmotivic - writing was mandatory in the top echelon of the profession. Devoid of this ability, one could still serve coffee in the studio.

This insignificant farewell, and gratitude for the numerous masterpieces he bequeathed us, I offer as a post scriptum to my previous thread regarding the septic noise that has expropriated such fine music for the last how many decades.

Addio Maestro!

Morricone's music on the whole is better known to us, Europeans, and film enthusiasts who do not limit themselves to Hollywood productions. Many are ignorant of the staggering amount of great scores by this man, where budgets were penurious (compared to those in L.A.), but inspiration bountiful!

Many are under the impression that the first Leone western -Fistful of Dollars- was scored the way it was due to aesthetic considerations, but that is only a fraction of the truth. In reality, the budget for music was so low, that Morricone had to make do with the whips and the wolf-calls (as opposed to some other economical solution, due to Leone's preference for an unrelated song arrangement by the composer). By the second and third movies, the surprisingly successful musical canvas had been set. 

Originally Posted by: jasensmith

When it comes to innovation in film scoring people think no further than Herrmann but, as Errik pointed out, Morricone could also conjure some magic with shoestring budgets.

True! It would behove film-music aspirers to spend a few months researching European cinema (of yesteryears preferably), and discover really inspired music that isn't an orchestra making the biggest noise it possibly can. Don't forget fanboys, when Hans was asked to name his favourite composers, the first one he named was Morricone, and he went from there. He certainly didn't name any of his cheap imitators.