Th e Jo u r n a l o f Fi l m Mu s i c Vo l u m e 2, Nu m b e r s 2-4, Wi n t e r 2009 Pa g e s 283-4 ISSN 1087-7142 co p y r i g h t © 2010 Th e In t e r n a t i o n a l Fi l m Mu s i c So c i e t y , In c .

Charles Leinberger. Ennio Morricone’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”: A Film Score Guide

Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow, 2004. [xviii, 137 p. ISBN: 0810851326. $27.95 (trade paper)] Scarecrow Film Score Guides, no. 3. Music examples, filmography, bibliography, index.

LORI STEVENS process not subservient to action or dialogue, but on equal footing. His early work experience as a studio arranger for the Italian pop radio industry ince the film’s release in 1966, Morricone’s manifested itself in the early Leone film scores score for The Good Bad and the Ugly (also known as Morricone experimented with new media and Sas Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo) has been panned combinations of sounds to subsequently abandon by some critics as “lifeless.” The third installment the traditional sentimental score with dense of this outstanding five–part series delves into instrumental texture. According to Leinberger, the many musical and extramusical factors that he reflects musically the unsettled uncertainty of eventually made this score a hit and today one of the rapidly changing societal paradigm shifts in Cold most widely recognized motion picture scores ever War Europe and America. Leinberger points out that written.1 Charles Leinberger’s extensive film music Morricone’s film music used melodic– or song–based background and passion for Morricone’s music create elements found in the Italian operatic tradition as a natural fit for producing this thorough exploration of opposed to the more commonly used leitmotiv that one of cinema’s essential scores. His sources include hails from the Wagnerian tradition. This fascinating nothing less than interviews and correspondence with fusion of song and pop in the film score created a Maestro Morricone himself, providing the reader a new musical medium which was more accessible rare opportunity to learn firsthand without scholarly to public tastes as stand alone music, enjoying conjecture, the composer’s ideas, intentions, and exposure over the airways as well as the screen. acknowledged influences. Leinberger’s approach is to The next two chapters introduce the reader to the provide a background about Morricone, an analysis of film itself, its social and historical context, the key his compositional techniques as it relates to scoring players, themes, and symbols found in The Good, the films, a historical, social and critical context for the Bad, and the Ugly. Leinberger adeptly draws parallels film and the music, and a discussion about every cue in between the Civil War setting of the film, and the its cinematic setting. disillusionment found in the U.S. during the Vietnam Leinberger begins chapter one with a brief era. He offers valid explanations for why a film that appraisal of Morricone’s formal and informal was slammed by the critics touched such a valid education, musical training, and early influences. This chord with the American public, creating a box office background sets an important stage for understanding hit, and a film worthy of study more than thirty–five the melding of both classical and non–classical years after its initial release. Next, readers learn of traditions such as jazz, pop, and avant–garde into a the critical response to Morricone’s scores for the unique musical landscape, a sound and style that is Leone films and the score for The Good, the Bad, and distinctly Morricone and its perfect marriage to the the Ugly is compared to his other works for western “realissimo” cinematic style of director Sergio Leone. film, tracing evolutions in voicing, orchestration, and In chapter two, the author explores Morricone’s experimentation with mechanical and natural sounds. unique philosophical approach to film scoring, in The final chapter, which is the most extensive which the music (or lack thereof) is considered to (comprising nearly a third of the book) be an integral part of the narrative or storytelling presents an in–depth analysis of the score replete with musical examples. Leinberger provides a 1 Christopher Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone (New York: I. B. Tauris, 1998), 147. sensitive examination of the tonality, orchestration, 284 THE JOURNAL OF FILM MUSIC

and the cinematic and narrative context for the nineteen cues, which (after Morricone’s technique) is thoroughly broken down and studied. Readers will gain a renewed appreciation for the composer’s detailed subtle approach to providing a score which is masterfully interwoven with Leone’s visual, narrative, aural, timing and other cinematic elements that contributed to the cinematic masterpiece. Leinberger concludes his study by summarizing Morricone’s amazing and prolific contribution to the art of film music as one who follows his musical projects closely from inception to fruition, by composing, orchestrating, and conducting his own scores. His musical creativity permeates boundaries. This well written and thoroughly researched study is accessible to lay musicians and scholars alike. It is an essential purchase for all film music collections.

Lori Stevens is a Librarian and Division Manager of Patron Services at the Orem Public Library in Utah. Previously, she was the Media Librarian at Utah Valley State College, where she was the library contact to music, theatre and speech, communications, legal studies, and criminal justice. Her bachelor’s in music is from Brigham Young University and her master’s in library and information science is from Emporia State University. In 2002, Stevens presented “A Fistful of Pasta: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly and the Glorious Film Music of Ennio Morricone,” part 1, at the Annual Meeting of the Mountain–Plains Chapter of the Music Library Association (MLA) at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. The presentation was forwarded to MLA’s Best of Chapters Committee. In 2003, she gave the presentation for the Film Music Roundtable at the Annual Meeting of the MLA in Austin, in which she also presented “Shooting Stars: Ethel Merman and Others Take Aim at Annie Get Your Gun” with Janet Bradford (Brigham Young University) for MLA’s Musical Theatre Roundtable.