[Thor Joachim Haga]

I’m very sad to learn that Italian film composer Marco Werba has died, only 63. Marco and I go back 25 years. In 2001, we got in touch via e-mail, and I offered to give him a “mini site” on Celluloid Tunes, in a section I then called “Up and Coming Composers”. For years, that was his site, until he got one of his own. We kept in touch occasionally via Facebook or mail after that, but I had always hoped to meet him IRL eventually. Perhaps if I went to Italy again at some point. Alas, that never happened.

Marco was a very talented composer with a very European sound. A bit of Delerue, a bit of Morricone. Often quite minimalistic and a bit stark. He worked with Dario Argento too. My favourite of his scores remains the beautifully religioso IL DIARIO DI UN PRETE (2003), but also worth noting are IL CONTE DE MELISSA, ZOO, AMORE E LIBERTA and GIALLO.

I had seen on Facebook that he had been in hospital a couple of times in recent years, but I took it to be something relatively minor. I didn’t understand the severity of it.