The Magic of Film Music: Ennio Morricone’s Film Scores in Relation to Cinema

Sean Woodard Hon 499: Honors Project II April 12, 2014

1 Described as the maestro of film composers, Ennio Morricone (b. 1928) has had one of the most successful music careers in the film industry, scoring such memorable films as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Untouchables, and The Mission. His scores not only contain memorable melodies, but also possess nuance and an intricacy that, combined with their corresponding filmic images, elicit powerful emotions and represent key elements including character, setting, and tone. Film music plays an essential role in the collaborative process of film production that merits further examination. For example, as Ennio Morricone’s scores illustrate, film music can enhance the film in many ways by serving as character themes, acting as a memory triggering device, representing historical contexts or character philosophies, or emphasizing important sections of narrative. Morricone’s work reveals that for music can act in such ways, the film composer must first have an understanding with the film’s director and know the story’s narrative to determine how the music can best serve the film. When a composer knows the director’s vision, s/he can then best determine which musical ideas may be most effective in the film and also help the director achieve his/her vision. Ennio Morricone—with his film scores for Once Upon a Time in the West, The Mission, and others—arguably represents the best collaborative effort between composer and film director of applying music to film, given his close professional relationships with such directors as Sergio Leone, Roland Joffé, Giuseppe Tornatore, and Brian De Palma. In Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts Susan Hayward writes that “the score has to fit the film—but not slavishly—for its purpose is to bring the film alive and to help seal the spectatorscreen relationship. When at its best, in this context, the score works with the image in a delicate

2 tension.”1 However, to achieve this purpose the film music should not overpower the image or the image overpower the music; instead, each should act as a complimentary aspect to one another, with the music creating a counterpoint to the image and vice-versa. Through this counterpoint, a relationship is formed between music and image. This relationship can be achieved when the music is matched to the image. According to Hayward, there are three ways to achieve this counterpoint: “Either [the music] is composed beforehand (the composer has a certain idea of the script and works from that), or it is composed alongside the shooting of the film (the composer watches the rushes and adapts the musical score to what is seen), or finally it is composed afterwards.”2 Morricone specifically composes—with few exceptions—beforehand as listed by Susan Hayward. In addition, Morricone specifically categorizes film music as applied music, music written for another medium. In an interview with Harlan Kennedy, Morricone stated: “Music in a film must not add emphasis but must give more body and depth to the story, to the characters, to the language that the director has chosen. It must, therefore, say all the things the dialogue, images, effects, etc., cannot say.”3 Morricone argues that music acquires the meaning, theme, or pathos of the film it is written for—it has no meaning beforehand; it must be given that based on the context it is placed into when applied to the filmic image.4 The following sections first discuss Morricone’s life then explore Morricone’s collaboration with acclaimed directors Sergio Leone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Brian De Palma, and 1

Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (New York: Routledge, 2006), 264-265.

2

Ibid., 265.

3

Harlan Kennedy, “The Harmonious Background,” American Film 27, no. 2 (February 1991): 40, quoted in Lawrence E. MacDonald, The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History (Lanham: Ardsley House, 1998), 311. 4

Luigi Caiola, “Musicgrooves.” Ennio Morricone: Arena Concerto. DVD. Directed by Giovanni Morricone. New York: New York, Euphonia-Warner Music Italia, 2004.

3 Roland Joffé, and how his scores fit into each director’s individual vision for their films. The first two film analyses examine Morricone’s collaboration with Sergio Leone. The first discusses how music represents characters and relationships in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) while the second illustrates how music in Once Upon a Time in America (1984) acts as a memory triggering device and informs the film’s narrative structure. The third analysis examines Morricone’s second long-term partnership with Giuseppe Tornatore through how music serves as an extension of artistic creativity in The Legend of 1900 (1998). The last two sections focus on Morricone’s work with Hollywood directors, Brian De Palma and Roland Joffé: how music highlights key moments in the narrative structure in The Untouchables’ (1987) and emphasizes historical contexts in The Mission (1986). The Composer, Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (b. 1928) was born in Rome, son of Libra and Mario Morricone. He attended the National Academy of Santa Cecilia at the early age of twelve where he studied trumpet and composition. During the 1950s, Morricone first began scoring for radio and television, eventually later becoming known as a top studio arranger for pop music for RCA. From the late ‘50s to early ‘60s, he began ghost writing scores for film. However, it wasn’t until 1964 when Morricone was hired to compose the score for a spaghetti western—a western produced in Italy in response to American westerns—entitled A Fistful of Dollars, directed by Morricone’s former schoolmate, Sergio Leone. The film became an international hit, and propelled actor Clint Eastwood to stardom. The film was also noted for its minimal dialogue and untraditional music score. The score was full of sound effects, whistles, whips, gunshots, and incorporated the increasingly popular Fender electric guitar. The reason the

4 filmmakers adopted this choice of minimal dialogue was due budgetary constraints—it was cheaper to fill screen time with music than dialogue.5 After the success of the film, Leone and Morricone collaborated on the next two sequels of the so-called “Dollars Trilogy”, A Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), films which solidified the reputations of both the director and the composer. Morricone would score three more films for Leone over the next eighteen years—the magnumopus Once Upon a Time in the West (1969), the Mexican Revolution-era film Duck, you Sucker! AKA A Fistful of Dynamite (1971), and the prohibition-era gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984). During the ‘60s and ‘70s, Morricone scored countless other spaghetti westerns and Italian films, writing for multiple genres, including comedy and horror. He eventually branched over to Hollywood productions. In addition, Morricone was a member of the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza from 1964 to 1980, an avant-garde group of composers for improvisation and instrumental experimentation. Morricone’s earliest efforts in Hollywood included Don Siegel’s western Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic (1976), John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing (1982), and Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978) for which he received his first Academy-Award Nomination for Best Original Score. During the 1980s Morricone produced some of his best known work and embarked on a number of fruitful collaborations with directors Roland Joffé, Brian De Palma, Warren Beatty, Barry Levinson, and Oliver Stone. In 1986, Morricone composed the film score for the popular film, The Mission (1986), for which he received his second Academy-Award nomination. In 1988, Morricone scored Cinema Paradiso (Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film) which began his on-going partnership with 5

Italian films during the 1960s and ‘70s were not shot with live sound, thus all effects and dialogue were overdubbed during post production: with less dialogue and more music, the lower the costs would be when dubbing into different languages for distribution.

5 filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore. He has scored all of Tornatore’s subsequent films, most notably The Legend of 1900 (1998)—Golden Globe winner for Best Original Score— Malèna (2001), and most recently The Best Offer (2013). In 2007, Morricone received an Honorary Academy Award “in recognition of his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music”, and a 2014 Grammy Trustees Award. Ennio Morricone has composed more than 500 scores for film and television. In addition, Morricone has also composed orchestral works of absolute music—music for its own sake—and other more classically themed works. Once Upon a Time in the West: Themes as Representation of Characters and Relationships In 1968, when Morricone scored Once Upon a Time in the West, he had already begun to make a name for himself as a film composer known for his nonconventional compositional techniques. He had entered the business through arranging pop orchestrations. One of these arrangements caught the attention of filmmaker Sergio Leone, who asked Morricone if he could use some of his recorded tracks as music for his Spaghetti Western, A Fistful of Dollars (1964). The film proved, especially in the American film market, so successful that more westerns of that type were sought out by major studios. With the success of the film, Morricone became a regular collaborator with Leone, scoring the remainder of his films from 1965 to 1984. After the release of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Leone wished to pursue a different gangster-themed project which eventually became 1984’s Once Upon a Time in America. Instead, United Artists—which distributed Leone’s previous films—wanted another western, and Leone conceded to their request. However, Leone wanted star Henry Fonda, so he went to Paramount to produce the film.6 For the film, Morricone gave Leone music he had

6

Christopher Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone (New York: Palgrave Macmilan, 2006), 196.

6 composed in advanced during the production hiatus following The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. One interesting aspect in Once Upon a Time in the West’s filming process was that the music was played live on set. According to Noël Simsolo, Leone later commented that his cast “acted with the music, followed its rhythm, and suffered with its ‘aggravating’ qualities, which grind the nerves.”7 This intimate relationship with the score creates an atmospheric quality within the film and allows the characters’ emotions to be influenced not only by the choreography and scripted scene developments, but also by the elicited pathos of the live sound recordings of the film score the actors acted to. Ennio Morricone’s score for Once Upon a Time in the West remains one of his most beloved compositions. Providing a musical backdrop for Sergio Leone’s big budget Spaghetti Western, Morricone’s score explored a new style that borrowed many operatic techniques, such as recurrent themes to represent specific characters. One example of this thematic usage is the main theme which also doubles for Claudia Cardinale’s character, Jill McBain. The theme draws from and expands upon classically oriented elements, melding them into a contemporary exploration of tone, structure, and leitmotif (which will be discussed in further detail). Morricone would combine these ideas again in later films, such as Once Upon a Time in America and Cinema Paradiso. Morricone’s score was largely influenced by the time period and, in effect, represented a shift in contemporary film composition. Although the score is rooted in the symphonic structure reminiscent of Hollywood film scores and classical music, Morricone’s use of unusual and/or modern instruments and dissonant and atonal music characteristics distinguish and separate it from its predecessors.

7

Noël Simsolo, Conversations avec Sergio Leone (Paris: Stock, 1987), 187-188, quoted in Christopher Frayling, Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), 280.

7 The majority of the score is divided into five main themes, pertaining to each of the five main characters. For example, the jarring harmonica solo, emphasizing diegetic aspects of film music—music which evolves out of a scene or is played live by a character in a scene—signifies Charles Bronson’s nameless character; this is an example of what film historian and theorist Robert Stam addresses in his book, Film Theory: An Introduction.8 Each theme represents the growth of the main characters and their interactions with others, while Jill’s theme, as previously stated, doubles as the film’s main theme. The five themes function as leitmotifs.9 A leitmotif is defined as a a theme, or other coherent musical idea, clearly defined so as to retain its identity if modified on subsequent appearances, whose purpose is to represent or symbolize a person, object, place, idea, state of mind, supernatural force or any other ingredient in a dramatic work. A leitmotif may be musically unaltered on its return, or altered in rhythm, intervallic structure, harmony, orchestration or accompaniment, and may also be combined with other leitmotif in order to suggest a new dramatic situation.10 In essence, the five leitmotifs do not change harmonically in the film; however, they do build upon each other with additional orchestration and combine during numerous instances of rising action and conflict. Historically, leitmotifs stem from nineteenth century opera. Robert Stam states that Hollywood composers being of European training “were inclined to favor the lush sounds of rich orchestral scoring, with long-spanned melodies based on Wagnerian leitmotifs.”11 Therefore, the music borrows from these aspects and develops the orchestration techniques based on

8

Robert Stam, Film Theory: An Introduction (Malden: Blackwell, 2002), 220.

9

Christopher Frayling, Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2005), 55. 10

Grove Music Online, s.v. “Leitmotif,” by Arnold Whittall, accessed April 17, 2003, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com. 11

Stam, Film Theory, 221.

8 contemporary standards. Furthermore, Stam states that “The concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk was trasmutted into a canonical aesthetic for film music; one which wedded music to action and character, dialogue, and sound-effects by furnishing the appropriate musical ‘color’ and environment.”12 As a result, the film score for Once Upon a Time in the West places the characters in a setting that is just as influencing as the tone of the music implies. The music differed from Morricone’s earlier scores, being more of a stately and contemplative nature, with slower tempos. According to John Fawell, “This film seems to move to the rhythms of Morricone’s soundtrack, whereas in the earlier [Leone] films, Morricone’s soundtrack seemed to interrupt the film in order to tease the film and establish ironies. . . [Leone] was after something much more epic and dignified in this film, less and earthy, more ceremonial and majesterial.”13 For example, “the expansive main title theme summoned the wide open spaces, the arrival of the railroad and, with added glockenspiel, the character of Jill McBain.”14 The main theme is introduced with glockenspiel—bringing to mind the nostalgic sounds of a music box— playing perfect thirds in a slow, descending dotted rhythm with strings bowing beneath; shortly, horns double the melody. The A section is recycled throughout the film for Jill’s character, as is the B section with its wordless vocal melody; however, the B section acts as more of a unifying continuity factor for the film, emphasizing the advancement of plot and character development, while overall elevating the story to a grand, mythical proportion. Director Sergio Leone was known for his meticulous direction. As John Fawell notes,

12

Ibid.

13

John Fawell, The Art of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West: A Critical Appreciation (Jefferson: McFarland, 2005), 170-171. 14

Frayling, Sergio Leone, 281.

9 “his celebrated mise-en-scène, characterized by careful choreography, set in precise rhythm with the music, captured in elegant pans and tracking shots which themselves move to the music . . . Even the massacre of the McBains is choreographed with such patience and gravity as to take on a sacred quality.”15 This interaction between the music, characters, expansive and detailed set designs, and the film’s length (clocking in at two hours and forty-five minutes) gives the film its designation of a “horse opera.”16 This description links the operatic feel of the music and the expanse of the film to its staged predecessors. Operas were known for their grand scale and themes centered on a character driven plot. In fact, Once Upon a Time in the West is described as “An Opera of Violence” by film historians and critics.17 The best example to equate the music and film with an opera is the early scene where Jill arrives at the station and the camera pans upward over the station to reveal the town in a state of expansion. As the camera reveals the town and follows Jill’s movements, the B section of Jill’s theme plays and creates an aesthetically, grandiose sense of scope and wonderment. The B section of the score features a wordless, vocal melody that soars over the expanse of the environment on screen, accompanied by brass and choir for color and lush strings that double the melody for added effect. This scene is a perfect example of what Morricone calls “interior music”—music that belongs to and is part of a scene.18 Morricone states that the music has an

15

Fawell, The Art of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, 181-182.

. 16

Frayling, Once Upon the Time in Italy, 98. Morricone disagrees with this assessment, preferring to describe Leone’s film not solely as a western, but also a representation of humanity. 17

Enfys Dickinson, “An Opera of Violence,” Once Upon a Time in the West, directed by Sergio Leone (1968; Los Angeles, CA: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2003), DVD. 18

Ennio Morricone, “Towards an Interior Music” in Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts in Film Music History, ed. Julie Hubbert (London: University of California Press, 2001), 335.

10 extra effect on the film, especially in this scene because the music “becomes the protagonist. . . [For this scene] Sergio [Leone] regulated the speed of the crane shot when Claudia Cardinale leaves the station to fit the musical crescendo.”19 The main theme then expands and becomes more layered with additional instrumentation, as the music crescendos towards its climax, then dissipates into a lush tonic chord. In light of other contemporary film music of the 1960s, Morricone’s score diverges from the symphonic, nineteenth-century romantic traits of a classic Hollywood film scores through its inclusion of many non-chamber style oriented instruments of the time (including guitar and harmonica); frequent solo voice melodic lines and natural sound. Even with these differences, Morricone’s score elevates the film to unprecedented heights, transforming it into a filmic version of a Wagnerian opera. According to Robert Stam, “Since music is closely tied to communitarian culture and ‘structures of feeling,’ it can tell us where a film’s emotional heart lies.”20 In this case, the film’s emotional heart lies in the characters’ words and actions, but also through their musical themes. Sir Christopher Frayling, film historian and biographer of Sergio Leone, states that this “interplay (almost ‘symmetry’) between music and image [in Once Upon a Time in the West] represent[s] the most memorable technical achievement in film.”21 Frayling further quotes a film critic who states that “it may be described as an opera in which arias are not sung but stared,” emphasizing the extreme close-ups on character faces and the emotion presented in the absence of dialogue, the tension illustrated in the layered music.22

19

Ibid.

20

Stam, Film Theory, 222.

21

Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns, 197.

22

Richard T. Jameson, “Something to do with Death: A Fistful of Sergio Leone,” Film Comment 9, no. 2

(1973): 11.

11 Since the release of Morricone’s Once Upon a Time in the West soundtrack, many composers attempted to imitate the newly revived leitmotif style. To the dismay of Robert Stam, this standardization of the leitmotif in film music eventually made it a “rather mechanical device . . . [that] tended to be redundant, subliminal, hackneyed, and comfortably tonal.”23 Yet, Morricone’s use of the leitmotif also encouraged other adept composers to experiment with this type of sound and rise above its genre clichés. However, it is Morricone’s breadth and scope in his Once Upon a Time in the West score—especially the main theme—that originally and fully captured the essence of the American West and the inner conflictions of its diverse characters in a heightened, mythical, and operatic context. It stands as a recent example of how music translates from genre to genre and is recycled to create a whole new effect in its current medium. Once Upon a Time in America: Music Forming Narrative Structure and a Memory Triggering Device After filming Once Upon a Time in the West and 1971’s Duck, You Sucker! to fulfill studio contracts, Sergio Leone was able to direct his final film, the sprawling crime-opus Once Upon a Time in America, released in 1984. As before, Morricone was hired to provide the music. The film was an adaptation of Harry Grey’s autobiographical novel The Hoods. Similar to Once Upon a Time in the West, the music was scored before principal shooting began and was later played on set in an unorchestrated form to set the mood and help the actors get into character. Unfortunately, the film had a troubled production history. After receiving widespread acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, the studio cut the film to an incomprehensive 139 minutes, including reordering the narrative into sequential order. In addition, Ennio Morricone’s score for the film, which many critics agree would have been a top contender for an Academy Award, never

23

Stam, Film Theory, 222.

12 received a nomination because it was never formally submitted for Oscar consideration.24 Even Arnon Milchan, the film’s producer said, “Somebody forgot to enter it. It was as stupid as that. It was a real crime. [During the scoring sessions] we felt that we were hearing a historic score. It was incredible; we were mesmerized. For me, it’s the most beautiful score ever written.”25 The film revolves around a complex plot which is complicated further as the narrative weaves in and out of three different time periods—1923, 1933, and 1968. The film tells the story of gang of Jewish childhood friends who later rise to power during Prohibition under the leadership of David “Noodles” Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and Max (James Woods). Of particular interest is how Noodles attempts to put together the jigsaw puzzles of his past after he receives a letter that draws him out of hiding. Noodle’s decision to solve the mystery behind the letter, along with Morricone’s film score, set events in motion and also trigger Noodles to reflect on his life. Of particular interest is how “in the process of creating his mythical view of American gangsters, Sergio Leone destroys our comfortable notions of narrative time and character development.”26 For example, certain cuts signify time shifts where the viewer is introduced to a younger or older incarnation of Noodles. In addition, musical themes play that cause Noodles to reflect, sometimes accompanied by multiple editing effects including dissolves, fade outs, or cuts. This music sometimes includes Morricone’s original score or period songs that Noodles overhears (whether they are a muzak version of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” or an arrangement of “Amapola”).27

24

Michael London, ”Little Co-Star, Warners Wonders Where You Are,” Los Angeles Times, February 6, 1985, http://articles.latimes.com/1985-02-06/entertainment/ca-4541_1_warner-bros. 25

Arnon Milchan, quoted in Jon Burlingame, liner notes to Once Upon a Time in America, Ennio Morricone, Restless Enterprises 822 334-2, CD, 1998, 12. 26

Peter Bondanella, A History of Italian Cinema (New York: Continuum International, 2009), 483.

27

Burlingame, liner notes to Once Upon a Time in America, 10.

13 In terms of Morricone’s original music, there are four main themes: The Main Theme, “Cockeye’s Song,” “Poverty,” and “Deborah’s Theme.” In relation to Noodles’ memory, Deborah’s Theme is the most relevant because Noodle’s and Deborah’s relationship is a central link to Noodle’s sense of shame and guilt—the theme then acts as a conduit for these emotions and memories to appear throughout the film. According to Adrian Martin, Morricone’s score possesses a strong talismanic power and poignancy . . . It is certainly more melodic, less radical and atonal . . . and a familiar, easily identifiable distribution of themes for different sections and moods for the movie. But, in a quiet and subtle way, there are unusual aspects of this score that create complex emotional effects. Like Leone’s narrative construction and mise-en-scène, Morricone offers us an intricately and tightly interwoven spread of musical elements. The “cross referencing” effects of the music multiply, as the various themes travel through the film in diverse transformations.28 This “cross referencing” is seen as the melodies occasionally blur into one another, such as when a version of “Amapola” segues into “Deborah’s Theme” when Noodles opens a seaside hotel, closed for the season, for an evening dinner date with Deborah. According to Christopher Frayling, “[‘Amapola’] was also to be woven into Morricone’s ‘Deborah’s Theme’—transposed from A to E Major—as if the two had blended in Noodles’ memory. The ‘found music’ tended to correspond to real moments in the narrative, with its source shown on screen.”29 The importance of “Deborah’s Theme” lies in the central relationship between Noodles and Deborah (Elizabeth McGovern), his childhood love. In the 1923 section of the film, a young Deborah (portrayed by Jennifer Connelly) gives Noodles the ultimatum of choosing her or following along with his friends into a degenerate life of crime. He chooses the later and faces the consequences, including a prison sentence. However, Noodles’ love for Deborah keeps him hoping for his

28

Adrian Martin, Once Upon a Time in America (London: BFI, 1998), 44.

29

Frayling, Sergio Leone, 426-427.

14 release from prison. When Noodles later meets up with her in 1933, he wishes to renew his love for Deborah, but she doesn’t share his sentiments. Deborah wishes to go to Hollywood and become an actress; as a result, she takes the step to cut all ties with Noodles and the crime life he is still a part of. The intimate connection between Deborah and Noodles fuels the emotional connection of “Deborah’s Theme.” This connection confirms Adrian Martin’s observation that the film’s music “enables the film as a totality to be located within the subjectivity of its hero.”30 Furthermore, Sue Adler states: “The theme then singles out what he is thinking at the moment, what is going on inside, what he is about to say. The pain and joy inside a character is what my music is about.”31 This claim is justly represented in Deborah’s relationship with Noodles. Not able to get what he wants, Noodles in a rage brutally rapes Deborah. The next day as she is travelling by train, Noodles tries to talk to her beforehand and apologize—yet, he knows he can’t make amends for such an act. As he stands on the platform he sees Deborah at a window seat. Deborah pulls the window shade down, closing the book on their relationship, followed by the train then pulls out of the station. As the train leaves, Noodles becomes enveloped by a cloud of steam. During this sequence, “Deborah’s Theme” plays. The theme possesses a gentle motif,32 but [is] “more contemplative, even sad, in nature. The strings are augmented by wordless soprano.”33 Noodles’ internal emotions and haunted memories are emoted not only by his actions and expressions, but by the music as it augments the tension. Later, when they meet again in

30

Martin, Once Upon a Time in America, 45.

31

Sue Adler, “Ennio Morricone,” Cinema Papers no. 49 (December 1984): 427, quoted in Martin, 45.

32

Jon Burlingame, Sound and Vision: 60 Years of Motion Picture Soundtracks (New York: Billboard Books, 1998), 128. 33

Burlingame, liner notes to Once Upon a Time in America, 9.

15 Deborah’s dressing room after Noodles attends one of Deborah’s performances, Deborah is harsher in tone with phrases such as “Actresses have good memories.” As she says this, Deborah’s theme lightly compliments the stark image. The theme’s most effective quality is its ability of carrying all the memories and feelings that were evoked since the last time the theme was played. In this way, the theme not only acts as a memory triggering device, but also a memory transport. According to Morricone, “The musical construction arose from the conscious mixture of two musics—some from the musical reality of a given epoch, some specially composed. . . Where the original themes were concerned, they had to evoke less palpable things—such as the passage of time, or particular emotions such as nostalgia, love or joy.”34 Furthermore, Frayling notes that compared to Morricone’s and Leone’s past collaborations, “Deborah’s Theme” instead possesses a “quasi-religious feel to it—as if calling Noodles back to his distant past.”35 In this sense, the music not only triggers memory but also acts as the conduit for the shifts in time. One of the most potent examples is present in the first third of the film. Noodles, in his sixties, enters the restroom at Fat Joe’s diner when he returns to Brooklyn in his sixties. Noodles removes a piece of wood creating a clear line if sight into the storage room. The camera cuts from his eyes and shows the expanse of the room, transitioning from 1968 to 1923. Noodles’ eyes watch a young Deborah practicing elocution lessons, dancing to “Amapola” playing on a phonograph. The camera returns to Noodles, focusing on his younger eyes. The insertion of “Amapola” serves not only as a foundation to set the time period, but also for Noodles’ memory to travel that distance in time. With this memory, all the emotions that accompanied the memory return as well. According to Sergio Leone, “This 34

Anne Lhassa and Gian Lhassa, Ennio Morricone (Lausanne: Favre, 1989), 243-244, quoted in Frayling, Sergio Leone, 427. 35

Frayling, Sergio Leone, 427.

16 time the emotions were so sharply defined, so strong and so usual . . . [the music] ought to come from a long way away.”36 As a result, the music recurs as if it was a whisper or the memory itself being recalled after being buried in Noodles’ subconscious, transporting Noodles back and forth in time. The Legend of 1900: Music as an Extension of the Protagonist’s Artistic Creativity In 1998 Ennio Morricone scored Giuseppe Tornatore’s first English-Language film, The Legend of 1900. The film follows a boy—named Danny Boodmann T. D. Lemons NineteenHundred—who is born at the turn of the twentieth century and lives his entire life on a ship. After hearing jazz being played from up in the first class ballroom during his adopted father’s funeral, 1900 shows an early interest in music. He is discovered to be musical prodigy at the piano and surprises the world with music that has never been heard before by blending classical music, jazz, and other musical styles. Morricone’s score arguably acts as the centerpiece which holds the narrative together, especially since the music represents the protagonist. Music is engrained in 1900’s system to the point where music seems to be his lifeblood. From this lifeblood, the music he composes plays off of his feelings and observations. In one scene, he plays tiny snippets of music to jokingly represent characters around the room based on his first impression of them. In addition, the waltzing piano scene where 1900 takes the breaks off the piano and plays an impromptu waltz during the middle of a raging sea storm shows different sides to his character: emotional, witty, and care-free. According to Peter Bondanella, the film “boasts a stupendous sound track (particularly important in a film about a pianist)” and acts as an “extended metaphor about artistic

36

Ibid.

17 creativity.”37 This description can describe two possibilities: 1) that the music is a metaphor of Morricone’s creativity, and 2) it functions as a metaphor for 1900’s creativity. I would emphasize the latter, and claim that the former is implied. With this in mind, Bondanella’s description perfectly encompasses 1900. This extended metaphor of artistic creativity is most exemplified in the scene where 1900 records a piece that begins as a jazzy improvisation. As 1900 looks out the window he sees a young girl who elicits feelings within him that he has never felt before. As a result, the girl becomes a muse for 1900’s playing, resulting in a beautiful melody, the “Playing Love” theme. This application of Bondanella’s statement seems to suggest that 1900 acts as a cocoon or place of incubation out of which the music can freely emerge and evolve As a result, it can be supposed that the music was always there within 1900—he only needed to express it through his playing. The Untouchables: Highlighting Key Moments in Narrative Structure In 1987, Morricone collaborated with director Brian De Palma for The Untouchables, a prohibition piece focusing on Eliot Ness’ squad of “Untouchables” and their attempts to put Al Capone away; Capone eventually served time for income tax evasion. To evoke appropriate emotion from viewers, Morricone’s music responds to specific scenes. Although Morricone usually composes off a script, he agreed to write the music after seeing an initial screening; Brian De Palma then took Morricone’s score and placed it in moments he thought appropriate. One of those appropriate and memorable scenes is where Eliot’s team joins forces with Canadian authorities to prevent a liquor transaction from happening on a bridge on the CanadianAmerican border. According to Lawrence E. McDonald in The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History, this dramatic music in the scene contains the “most noteworthy part of 37

Bondanella, A History of Italian Cinema, 542.

18 this score . . . Overlapping trumpet lines add such coloristic brilliance that the music almost overwhelms the scene.”38 The scene’s combination of music and action emphasizes director Brian De Palma’s wish for the audience to see the main characters in a dangerous context that would cause the audience to further develop an attachment to them. Unfortunately, Eliot’s squad is broken up, first with the murder of agent Oscar Wallace, the accountant who first proposed the idea of catching Al Capone for income tax evasion. As Wallace hangs in an elevator spattered with a message in blood that reads “Touchable”, a mournful death theme plays that is heartbreaking. Wallace’s death also represents a tonal shift for the film as the narrative now enters darker territory, emphasizing that none of its characters are safe along with heightening Eliot Ness’ need to arrest Capone. In addition to the instances where music punctuates the pertinent scenes, one of the important aspects in terms of narrative structure is the main title music which represents the opening credits. Brian De Palma recalls that Morricone went through seven or eight versions until he picked one he thought best fit the film.39 The music not only had to set the tone, it had to be compelling in its portrayal and also propel the viewer from the opening credits and into the rhythm of the narrative. Out of those themes, although De Palma picked what Morricone personally describes as his least favorite version of the theme he wrote, Morricone acknowledges that it fits the films well, in that it was perfect in accordance to De Palma’s intentions and vision for the film.40 “The Untouchables Theme” tied into the pathos of the film narrative and contributed to the film’s overall cohesiveness. 38

Lawrence E. MacDonald, The Invisible Art of Film Music, 320.

39

Laurent Bouzereau, “The Classic,” The Untouchables, directed by Brian De Palma (1987; Hollywood, CA: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2004), DVD. 40

Luigi Caiola, “Musicgrooves.”

19 The Mission: Music Evolving out of Historical Contexts For Roland Joffé’s The Mission, Ennio Morricone delivered one of his most beloved scores. The film also represented another of the rare instances where Morricone watched a cut of a film before writing the music for it. Originally, Morricone thought he had nothing to contribute to the film: “I liked it and it moved me to such a point that I thought of not writing the music for it.”41 Once convinced that his contribution could have a positive impact on the film, Morricone decided to compose the score. Morricone’s challenge for The Mission was fitting the score in a historical context that also represented the narrative structure and character qualities. According to Morricone, this task brought up three main considerations: For that film there were some fundamental givens. First, Father Gabriel played the oboe, so clearly I had to write pieces for oboe. Second, the film was set in the 1750s, so I took into account the state of instrumental music at the time and the fact that liturgical pieces had to follow the edicts laid down at the Council of Trent. And third, I had to consider the native South American tradition. These were constraints that I had to blend in different degrees. They also allowed me to create three different strands that worked in opposition but at the same time shared a number of elements.42 Jon Burlingame and Gary Crowdus confirm this statement in an interview with Morricone for Sight & Sound.43 Morricone’s result, considering the listed criteria, is specifically seen in scenes where the musical themes mix. For example, one scene depicts a young Indian boy singing a motet for a group of people who are there to decide the territorial rights of Portugal and Spain. The scene and the subsequent diegetic and non-diegetic choral arrangements throughout the film

41

Harlan Kennedy, “The Harmonious Background,” American Film 27, no. 2 (February 1991): 46, quoted in MacDonald, The Invisible Art of Film Music, 312. 42

Bonsaver, Guido, "Ennio Morricone: Water Drops on Burning Rocks," Sight & Sound 16, no. 7 (July 2006): 32. Academic Search Premier. 43

Jon Burlingame and Gary Crowdus, "Music At The Service Of The Cinema,” Cineaste 21, no. 1/2 (1995): 76-80, Academic Search Premier.

20 represent the influence Western music introduced by the Jesuits has had on the Indian populations. Toward the climax of the film when the Spanish and Portuguese massacre the Mission inhabitants since it falls under their jurisdiction and because the Jesuits and the Indians have not left the territory as ordered. During this scene, the choral arrangements from earlier pieces such as the “Ave Maria Guarani” theme mix with the traditional instrumentation seen in other pieces. In the final scene after the devastation, the remaining Indian children return to the mission and salvage belongings. One child picks up a violin floating in the water before climbing into a boat and paddling off up river with the other children. As this scene progresses, Morricone’s score for “On Earth as it is in Heaven” begins. The score combines both the sounds of South American rhythmic drumming with the choral arrangements the Guarani learned from the Jesuits as the oboe solo from Father Gabriel’s theme, “Gabriel’s Oboe,” acts as a unifying melody. As Morricone previously states, the combination of the themes represents the spiritual union between the Jesuits and the Guarani Indians.44 Even in their cultural differences, the music—sharing certain elements despite their different qualities—becomes a unifying force. Not only does the music tie into the historical context of the film narrative, but also connects the characters to one another. In this manner, Morricone’s score lifts the film to more emotional and spiritual heights. Conclusion From the filmic examples provided, one can see not only Morricone’s contribution to the art of film scoring, but also the importance of the director-composer relationship in realizing the director’s vision. However, it must be noted that not all collaborations are as fruitful. For 44

Franco Sciannameo, “Ennio Morricone at 85: A Conversation about his ‘Mission,’” Musical Times 154, no. 1924 (September 2013): 42, Academic Search Premier.

21 example, Ennio Morricone’s work with director Gillo Pontecorvo on The Battle of Algiers (1966) resulted in discord. Pontecorvo reportedly rewrote some of the music because Morricone’s contribution did not completely match Pontecorvo’s intentions of the film.45 Similarly, Morricone believes that during his first collaboration on director Dario Argento first feature film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), there was too much conflict of interest: Argento seemed too controlling, projecting his ideas for the music onto Morricone and wanting the music to have a certain sound and feel.46 Despite the occasional discord between composer and director, Morricone’s collaborations show his faith in the directors with whom he worked. These close relationships allowed him access to develop a better understanding of each film, showing how the overall effect of a successful collaboration arguably enhances the resulting film, elevating it to more artistic heights. In retrospect, Morricone’s collaborations represent an important aspect of film scoring and film production that represent a potential platform for further study regarding film composer-director relationships. Such avenues of inquiry may include auteur theory and how such collaborations may be viewed as a dual authorship of a film, and how such collaborations access and embody the heart of a film as expressed through the music.

45

Kim Hendrickson, “Marxist Poetry: The Making of The Battle of Algiers,” The Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (1966; New York, NY: Criterion, 2004), DVD. 46

David Gregory, “The Music of Murder.” The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, directed by Dario Argento (1970; West Hollywood, CA: Blue Underground, 2005), DVD. On later projects, Morricone’s and Argento’s relationship improved as Morricone was able to compose scores on his own terms and then bring them to Argento for his approval.

22 Bibliography Bondanella, Peter. A History of Italian Cinema. New York: Continuum International, 2009. Bonsaver, Guido. “Ennio Morricone: Water Drops on Burning Rocks.” Sight & Sound 16.7 (2006): 30-32. Academic Search Premier. Bouzereau, Laurent. “The Classic.” Disc 1. The Untouchables, special collector’s ed. DVD. Directed by Brian De Palma. Hollywood, CA: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2004. Burlingame, Jon. Linear Notes. Once Upon a Time in America. Restless Enterprises. 822 334-2. CD. 1998. ———. Sound and Vision: 60 Years of Motion Picture Soundtracks. New York: Billboard Books, 2000. Burlingame, Jon and Gary Crowdus. "Music At The Service Of The Cinema." Cineaste 21.1/2 (1995): 76-80. Academic Search Premier. Dickinson, Enfys. “An Opera of Violence.” Disc 2. Once Upon a Time in the West, special collector’s ed. DVD. Directed by Sergio Leone. Los Angeles, CA: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2003. Fawell, John. The Art of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West: A Critical Appreciation. Jefferson: McFarland, 2005. Frayling, Christopher. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012. ———. Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone. New York: Harry N. Abrams. 2005. ———. Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Gregory, David. “The Music of Murder.” Disc 2. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. DVD. Directed by Dario Argento. West Hollywood, CA: Blue Underground, 2005. Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. 3rd ed. 1996. New York: Routledge, 2006. Hendrickson, Kim. “Marxist Poetry: The Making of The Battle of Algiers.” Disc 2. The Battle of Algiers. DVD. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. New York, NY: Criterion, 2004. Jameson, Richard T. “Something to do with Death: A Fistful of Leone.” Film Comment 9, no. 2 (1973): 8-16.

23 London, Michael. “Little Co-Star, Warners Wonders Where You Are.” Los Angeles Times, February 6, 1985. http://articles.latimes.com/1985-02-06/entertainment/ca4541_1_warner-bros. MacDonald, Lawrence E. The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History. Lanham: Ardsley House, 1998. Martin, Adrian. Once Upon a Time in America. London: BFI, 1998. Morricone, Ennio. “Towards an Interior Music.” In Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts in Film Music History edited by Julie Hubbert, 334-336. London: University of California Press, 2011. “Musicgrooves: Ennio Morricone’s Musical Paths.” Prod. Luigi Caiola. Ennio Morricone: Arena Concerto. Dir. Giovanni Morricone. Euphonia-Warner Music Italia, 2003. DVD. Sciannameo, Franco. “Ennio Morricone at 85: A Conversation about his ‘Mission,’” Musical Times 154, no. 1924 (September 2013): 42, Academic Search Premier. Stam, Robert. Film Theory: An Introduction. Malden: Blackwell Publisher Inc., 2002.

24 Filmography Argento, Dario. 1970. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Italy. Boorman, John. 1976. The Exorcist II: The Heretic. USA. Carpenter, John. 1982. The Thing. USA. De Palma, Brian. 1987. The Untouchables. USA. Joffé, Roland. 1986. The Mission. USA. Leone, Sergio. 1964. A Fistful of Dollars. Italy. Leone, Sergio. 1965. For a Few Dollars More. Italy. Leone, Sergio. 1966. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Italy. Leone, Sergio. 1968. Once Upon a Time in the West. Italy. Leone, Sergio. 1971. Duck, You Sucker! AKA A Fistful of Dynamite. Italy. Leone, Sergio. 1984. Once Upon a Time in the West. Italy. Malick, Terence. 1978. Days of Heaven. USA. Pontecorvo, Gillo. 1966. The Battle of Algiers. Italy. Siegel, Don. Two Mules for Sister Sara. USA. Tornatore, Giuseppe. 1989. Cinema Paradiso. Italy. Tornatore, Giuseppe. 1998. The Legend of 1900. Italy. Tornatore, Giuseppe. 2001. Malèna. Italy. Tornatore, Giuseppe. 2013. The Best Offer. Italy.