The Big-Screen Legend of Morricone

“The Legend of 1900” is not the life story of film music composer Ennio Morricone. It only seems like he’s scored 1,900 movies. But when the Italian maestro describes the musical talents of the movie’s protagonist--a prodigy born at sea at the turn of the century and named for the year (hence the title)--it might have a familiar ring to the composer’s own vast legion of fans.

“The protagonist is a musical phenomenon--because this young man could go from jazz to popular music to classical,” he says.

Yet that description only covers part of Morricone’s own legend. His actual total of credits is 363 and counting--ranking him among, if not at the top, of cinema’s most prolific composers, his range running from the signature sounds of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns to the solemnity of “The Mission” and the era-spanning psychological intensity of “Once Upon a Time in America.” That doesn’t even count his vast catalog of non-film work, from the radio dramas he scored in Italy in the ‘50s during his youth to respected orchestral and chamber classical works from later in his life.

His influence is inescapable: In the pop culture world you can hardly turn on the TV without hearing either his haunting, twangy theme from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”--or some inferior imitation--in any scene remotely resembling a western duel. And in theaters, you’re almost as likely to hear his musical presence in films he had nothing to do with as in ones he scored himself.

“Anybody who’s ever written any kind of romantic score has been influenced by him,” says Danny Elfman, whose own composing credits include “Men in Black” and “Good Will Hunting” (both earning him Oscar nominations) and the upcoming Tim Burton film, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” “My favorite definitely was ‘Once Upon a Time in America’--that’s my ultimate Morricone score. I love the epic romance of it, a romanticism with simple woodwind lines leading a very simple, lush melody. Very simple and very moving.”

And though Morricone turns 71 on Nov. 10, he’s not slowing down. He’s got four film scores currently in the works, as well as an album of classical compositions.

Yet for all that, Morricone says, “The Legend of 1900,” the eighth film he’s done with “Cinema Paradiso” director Giuseppe Tornatore, may have been his greatest challenge, the one most deeply tapping the full range of his talents.

“It was the story of a great composer,” Morricone explains, speaking in Italian from his home near Rome via translator Judy Smith. “And therefore I had to compose music of great quality.”

The challenge for Morricone in “1900” was composing music that fit the nature of the unusual main character. “It’s the story of a child, abandoned shipboard by his mother at a couple of days old, taken up and adopted by the entire crew, who little by little grows up and never sets foot on land,” he says. “His birth certificate is never registered officially, therefore he’s never been born. And a person who has never been born can never die. Therefore he is immortal.”

With that notion, the maestro extrapolated further, reaching into the pantheon of musical immortality when composing what would serve as the first performance by this youngster.

“This is my own opinion,” he says, “but I considered this great composer who is never born and can never die a reincarnation of a great musical phenomenon of the past. This is nothing to do with anything in the script. . . . This is my own interpretation, which was extremely inspirational.”

And the reincarnated spirit?

“The first time this [character] as a child of 8, completely self-taught, plays the piano in front of an audience . . . I wrote a piece of music in the style of Mozart as if the child were in fact the reincarnation of Mozart,” he says.

That, though, was only the start. Given the period of the story, the main character’s attention turns to ragtime and the early flowerings of modern jazz, even encountering the great, flamboyant Jelly Roll Morton (played by Clarence Williams III). For his part, Morricone conjures up melanges of styles that combine the elements in a way that neatly and evocatively more or less parallels the ideas that in that very era were starting to spring from George Gershwin.

And he had to do all this without the usual film composer’s advantage of seeing the movie.

“All that music that was going to be performed by the actors had to be written before they even began shooting,” he says. “For months they studied the music.”

Composer Hired

a Jazz Consultant

Morricone did some studying of his own.

“In order to do right by the jazz, I hired a consultant who specialized in American jazz, and after writing all the music I recorded it and the consultant listened, and everything was OK,” he says.

It was not, however, the challenges of the project or even the richness of the script, based on Alessandro Baricco’s monologue “Novecento,” that led Morricone to take the job. It was simply a matter of who was at the helm--the same criteria he says he uses for every choice he makes from the dozens of films being offered to him at any given time.

“First of all, if I already have worked with a particular director and had a good working relationship, I will accept the film, if I have time to devote to it,” he says. “Even in the case of a director I’ve not worked with before, if I respect the work, I want to work with him.”

That’s led to some tremendously strong relationships with directors. In addition to Leone and Tornatore, Morricone has done repeat business with Barry Levinson (“Bugsy,” “Disclosure”), Warren Beatty (“Love Affair,” “Bulworth”) and the directors of all four of his projects in the works at this time: Brian DePalma’s “Mission to Mars,” Roland Joffe’s “Vatelle,” Italian director Ricky Tognazzi’s “Canone Inverso” and Tornatore’s next film.

“Many times a script isn’t ready [when a composer is hired] and I really go on discussions with the director,” he says. “The story is a lot less important to the project than the director himself. A wonderful story could be done 10 different ways by different directors.”

As it turned out, there’s just one part of the “1900” project he has trouble mustering much enthusiasm for--a pop-styled ballad, “Lost Boy Calling,” tacked on over the end credits for which he wrote the music, with lyrics and vocals added by former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters, guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen and production by frequent Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard.

“I had absolutely no contact with Roger Waters,” he says. “Despite that, I read the lyrics and think Roger did a splendid job as lyricist and singer. It was the record company that wanted the song to promote the film and there was no reason to collaborate [in person].”

That, though, he can shrug off. Something else, he can’t so easily dismiss. His accolades are countless. His trophy shelf is crammed with awards and honors from all over the globe--except for one.

“Despite all the prizes and awards throughout Europe, the thing not fulfilled is the Oscar,” says Morricone, who has had four Academy Awards nominations, but has never won. “I feel there is a hole in me. I just don’t understand it.”