ENNIO MORRICONE HONORED WITH GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD
It was big news in Italy recently when famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone won a Golden Globe award for the soundtrack of the latest Quentin Tarantino movie, “The Hateful Eight.” The 87-year-old maestro couldn’t make it to Beverly Hills for the awards ceremony in January, so Tarantino accepted it on his behalf. But that wasn’t quite enough for his many fans. So Lorenzo Soria, head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which awards the Golden Globes, presented Morricone with his statuette at an event January 30 hosted by Italian luxury jeweler Bulgari at its historical premises on Rome’s Via Condotti.
This is the third Golden Globe for Morricone, who also was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2007. He composed the musical scores of over 500 movies but his bestknown score may be for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” That score, considered one of the most influential soundtracks in movie history, has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Romeo Sabatini Connection: One of our AMHS members, our long-time webmaster Romeo Sabatini, had reason to be especially pleased that Morricone was being honored. Romeo’s cousin Edda Sabatini Dell’Orso has sung in many of Morricone’s film scores. Romeo recently visited his cousin who now lives in Rome but who is from Abruzzo and who is, according to Romeo, “100% Abruzzese.”
Romeo says that of the hundreds of songs his cousin did with Morricone, the one he loves best is “Once Upon a Time in the West,” which he calls “a most beautiful piece of music.” You can see her performance on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cvsv98CcZg. Morricone himself was born in Rome into a musical family—his first teacher was his father who taught him to read music and play a few instruments. As a composer, conductor and trumpet player, he composed in a wide range of musical styles, making him one of the most versatile and influential composers of all time. In a span of 7 decades, he composed over 500 film and TV scores and over 100 classical works. In addition to the many film scores, Morricone composed the official theme for the 1978 FIFA World Cup and his music has been used in TV series from The Simpsons to the Sopranos. In support of his Oscar bid, the Union of Italian Astrophiles named an asteroid after Morricone.
Amateur astronomers from the observatory of Campo Catino near Frosinone have named an asteroid “Morricone.” It is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Well, that must have brought him good luck, because at the Academy Awards on February 28, 2016, Morricone won an Oscar for “The Hateful Eight” score. Immediately afterwards, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tweeted “Superb Maestro, finally” and Culture Czar Dario Franceschini tweeted “an all-time movie giant has triumphed!!” Bravo, Maestro!!