La Califfa

Music by Ennio Morricone

 

 

 

 

 

On a period of many experimentation for Morricone, the music for poítical/social drama La Califfa (The Rebel), starring Romy Schneider and Ugo Tognazi, is remarkable immediately for his instrumental set including celesta, chimes and harpsychord.

The main theme is one of the most beautiful in the rich repertoire of the composer. The instrumental leads the soundtrack for a recurring sad climate with its bells and chimes in several places. The unexpected similarity of some arrangements to the westerns music is evident in L'Impatto rhythms as well as the dramatic intensity of La Donna and La Campagna and especially in Prima e Doppo L'Amore. The experimental arrangements in La califfa were important to the evolutionary course of Morricone in his search for expansion of language but still close, here, to the limits of tonality. La Califfa can be mentioned as fundamental work on his filmography.