The Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin passed away on Thursday at the age of 93. He was best known as the creator and composer of the iconic theme song for the Mission: Impossible films and series.
Schrifrin died from complications of pneumonia, his family told AP. He reportedly died peacefully in the presence of his family at his home in Los Angeles.
In an interview with the news agency in 2006, Schifrin explained how he wrote the well-known theme song for the Mission: Impossible films, which was first heard in the first film in the series that aired on TV in 1966. The film’s producer reportedly asked the composer to write “something exciting.” “A brand name, something that becomes a signature,” Schifrin said.
In the film, only a lit fuse is visible at the moment the music sounds. “I had no images to base my music on. Maybe that’s why the song has become such a success, I wrote something that came from myself.”
The song had an unusual 5/4 time signature and was described by a film critic of The New Yorker as “the most infectious melody ever.” The piece of music can also be heard in the latest film installment, which is now playing in theaters.
Schifrin won major awards
The piece of music won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme and Best Song Specifically Written for a Motion Picture or Television. The song was also added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017. Schifrin himself also won four Grammys and was nominated for an Oscar six times.
Furthermore, Schifrin wrote one of the best-selling pieces of music in the history of classical music. That was for the three greatest tenors, high male singing voices, in the world. Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras performed together for the first time in 1990 for the World Cup final in Italy.
In addition to being a composer, Schifrin was known as a jazz pianist. He played with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. As a classical conductor, he worked with pianists Mstislav Rostropovich and Daniel Barenboim.
Interested in classical music from a young age.
Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires, where his father was the concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra. The concertmaster is the first violinist of an orchestra and the leader of the entire violin section. Classical music therefore fascinated Schifrin from a young age.
In addition to studying law, he was trained in classical music. He studied at the conservatory in Paris in 1950, among other places. The crowning achievement of his career came many years later, in 2018. Schifrin then received an honorary Oscar for his oeuvre from actor Clint Eastwood. For the composer, that was a dream come true: “Mission accomplished.”