On 19 May 2019, the memory of an unforgettable concert feels almost immediate, as if it happened only two days earlier. It was an Ennio Morricone performance at the Arena di Verona, an experience that crowned a long-held dream. Even the heavy, relentless rain, which lasted from beginning to end, could not dampen the event’s emotional power. The atmosphere was charged with a rare kind of intensity: Morricone, despite obvious fatigue, truly spared nothing. He conducted with full presence, even seated, maintaining the magnetic command that held both orchestra and audience completely focused on his gestures. The music triggered chain reactions of feeling, taking the spectators’ breath away.
The text also recalls how Morricone’s music resonated in Venice, but highlights a crucial difference: it had only one time been accompanied by the active presence of its creator. In this perspective, two exceptional evenings in Piazza San Marco – 10 and 11 September 2007 – stand out as particular milestones. Nearly eighty years old, Morricone directed the Orchestra Sinfonietta di Roma and the Choir of the Fenice. His program was long and demanding, offering, alongside his most celebrated film masterpieces, a special moment on the night of 11 September: Voci dal silenzio, an emotionally powerful thirty-minute suite for reciting voice, choir, and orchestra. Composed after the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and later dedicated to the victims of all atrocities, the work turned musical writing into a collective act of remembrance and moral attention.
From this story comes the announcement of another Venetian tribute. The Orchestra and Choir of Teatro La Fenice have chosen Morricone as the centerpiece of the traditional summer concert in Piazza San Marco, scheduled for 5 July. This time, the homage aims at the “hidden” Morricone – an aspect still partly unexplored by the public. The program intends to reveal the composer of “absolute music,” the experimenter, and the creator of film scores capable of narrating lesser-known angles of his musical research. The evening opens with beloved pieces such as Canone Inverso (2000), the Conradiana from Nostromo (1996), and Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988). The set then moves to works that emphasize the depth of his thought, including the performance of Cantata per l’Europa (1988) for soprano, two reciting voices, mixed choir, and orchestra. Published by SZ Sugar, this score returns to the concert stage after more than twenty years. Built on words by prominent figures of European culture and thought, ranging from Victor Hugo and Dante to Jean Monnet, Thomas Mann, Winston Churchill, and Robert Schuman, the cantata unfolds in three movements: Attesa, Ammonizione, and Speranza. The text underlines its clear socio-political engagement and Morricone’s musical reflection on collective destiny, memory, and the relationship between identity and the future. Even decades after composition, its strength appears strikingly current.
Featured image: © Roberto Moro
