Lalo Schifrin, Oscar-nominated composer of iconic “Mission: Impossible” theme, dies at 93

Lalo Schifrin, the composer who wrote the infinitely catchy theme of “Mission: Impossible” and more than 100 other arrangements for cinema and television, died on Thursday. He was 93 years old.

Schifrin’s son Ryan Schifrin confirmed death to CBS News in a statement, saying that his father “had succumbed to the complications of pneumonia”.

“His family was by his side and he passed peacefully,” said Schifrin. “We are grateful for the opportunity to be there for him. We always try to deal with this loss and are very moved by all the love and support that we have received.”

Argentinian won four grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, including five for the original scoring for “Cool Hand Luke”, “The Fox”, “Voyage of the Damned”, “The Amityville Horror” and “The Sting II”.

“Each film has its own personality. There is no rules for writing music for films,” Schifrin told the Associated Press in 2018. “The film dictates what music will be.”

He also wrote the great final musical performance for the world championship in Italy in 1990, in which the three tenors – Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras – sang together for the first time. The work has become one of the greatest sellers in the history of classical music.

Schifrin, also a jazz pianist and classic conductor, had a remarkable career in music that included work with Dizzy Gillespie and recording with Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan.

The composition of Schifrin of the theme “Mission: Impossible”

But perhaps his greatest contribution was the instantly recognizable partition of the “mission: impossible” on television, which fueled The just wrappedFranchise of long decades films led by Tom Cruise.

Written in the unusual signature of 5/4, the theme – DUM -DUM DUM DUM -DUM DUM DUM DUM – was married to a self -destruction clock on the screen which launched the television program, which operated from 1966 to 1973. It was described as “only the most contagious melody ever heard by MORTAL EARDS” by New YORK Hit No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.

Schifrin initially wrote another piece of music for the theme song, but the creator of the Bruce Geller series liked another arrangement that Schifrin had composed for an action sequence.

“The producer called me and said to me:” You will have to write something exciting, almost like a logo, something that will be a signature, and it will start with a fuse “”, said Schifrin at the AP in 2006. “So I did it and there was nothing on the screen.

When director Brian de Palma was invited to take the series on the Silver Screen, he wanted to bring the theme with him, leading to a creative conflict with composer John Williams, who wanted to work with a new theme. Out came out Williams and came Danny Elfman, who agreed to keep Schifrin’s music.

Hans Zimmer took over the score for the second film, and Michael Giacchino scored the next two. Giacchino told NPR that he hesitated to take it, because Schifrin’s music was one of his favorite themes of all time.

“I remember called Lalo and asked if we could meet for lunch,” Giacchino told NPR. “And I was very nervous – I felt like someone asked a father if I could marry his daughter or something. And he said,” Have fun with that. “And I did it.”

“Mission: Impossible” won Grammys for the best instrumental theme and the best original partition of a film or a television program. In 2017, the theme entered the Grammy Hall of Fame.

U2 members Adam Clayton and Lary Mullen Jr. covered the theme while making the soundtrack of the first payment of 1996; This version culminated at n ° 16 on the Billboard 200 with a Grammy nomination.

A 2010 advertisement for Lipton Tea represented a young Schifrin composing the theme of his piano while inspired by Sips of the brand’s Lipton Yellow label. The musicians fell from the sky by adding elements.

The history of Schifrin and his other prolific work

Born Boris Claudio Schifrin from a Jewish family from Buenos Aires – where his father was the solo violin of the Philharmonic Orchestra – Schifrin was formed in a classic way in music, in addition to studying law.

After studying at the Paris Conservatory – where he learned the harmony and composition of the legendary Olivier Messiaen – Schifrin returned to Argentina and trained a concert group.

Gillespie heard Schifrin perform and asked him to become his pianist, arranger and composer. In 1958, Schifrin moved to the United States, playing in the quintet of Gillespie in 1960-62 and composing the famous “Gillespiana”.

The long list of lights he interpreted and recorded includes Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Dee Dee Bridgewater and George Benson. He also worked with classic stars such as Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim and others.

Schifrin easily moved between genres, winning a Grammy for the 1965 “Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts” from 1965 “while winning a sign of the same year for the partition of” The Man From Untle “on television in 2018, he received an honorary Oscar statuette and, in 2017, the Latin Recording Academy was devoted to one of his special rewards.

Subsequent film scores included “Tango” “” Rush Hour “and his two suites,” Bringing Down the House “,” The Bridge of San Luis Rey “,” After the Sunset “and the” abominable “horror film.

Writing the arrangements for “Dirty Harry”, Schifrin decided that the main character was in fact not the hero of Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, but the villain, the Scorpion.

“You might think that the composer would pay more attention to the hero. But in this case, no, I did it in Scorpion, the villain, the evil,” he said in the AP. “I wrote a theme for Scorpion.”

It was Eastwood who gave him his honorary Oscar.

“Receiving this honorary Oscar is the culmination of a dream,” said Schifrin at the time. “This is the mission accomplished.”

Among Schifrin’s conductive credits includes London Symphony Orchestra, Vienne Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Mexico Philharmonic, Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was appointed musical director of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra from southern California and served in this capacity from 1989 to 1995. Schifrin also wrote and adapted the music of “Christmas in Vienne” in 1992, a concert featuring Diana Ross, Carreras and Domingo.

He also combined tango, folk and classic genres when he recorded “Letters from Argentina”, nominated for a Latin Grammy for the best Tango album in 2006.

Schifrin was also responsible for writing the opening for the Pan American Games in 1987, and composed and organized the final performance of the 1995 event in Argentina.

And for perhaps one of the only operas interpreted in the old native language of Nahuatl, in 1988, Schifrin wrote and led the choirs of the Choral Symphony of Aztecs “. The work was created at the Pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico with Domingo as part of a campaign to collect funds to restore the Aztec temple of the site.

“I found that it was a very soft musical language, in which the sounds of words dictated interesting melodies,” Schifrin told the Associated Press at the time. “But the real answer is that there is something magical about it. … There is something magical in the art of music anyway.”

In addition to his sons, he is survived by his daughter, Frances, and his wife, Donna.