Rest in Peace Angelo Badalamenti

The history of the 7th Art is full of mythical couples uniting a director and a composer on numerous films. Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann of course, but also Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand, Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone, Steven Spielberg and John Williams, or Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. By passing away on 11 December 2022 at the age of 85, Angelo Badalamenti renders David Lynch more widowed than ever. Together they made beautiful art, there is, of course, the theme of the series (and then the film) Twin Peaks but also all of Lynch's feature films: Blue Velvet (1986), Sailor and Lula (1990), Lost Highway (1997), The Straight Story (1999) and Mulholland Drive (2001). These scores are steeped in a synthetic lyricism that will remain one of his trademarks. His style also leans towards jazz and the atmosphere of certain film noirs of the 1950s.

This Brooklyn native started playing the piano at the age of 8 and ended up at the Manhattan School of Music in the 1960s. His virtuosity allowed him to arrange for such prestigious voices as Nina Simone and Shirley Bassey. The love story with David Lynch began by chance, when the filmmaker was looking for an accompanist for the actress Isabella Rossellini for Blue Velvet. He met Badalamenti, then known as a singer's coach, and ended up entrusting him with the score for his film. In a 2005 interview with The New York Times, David Lynch explains their work: "I would sit down with Angelo and talk to him about a scene, and he would start playing these words on the piano."

Again with the New York daily, Badalamenti also details this unique relationship: "David's visuals are very influenced by the music. The tempo of the music helps him define the tempo of the actors, their dialogue and the way they move. He would sit next to me at the keyboard and describe what he was thinking while I improvised the score. Almost all of Twin Peaks was written without me seeing a single frame, at least in the pilot."

In Angelo Badalamenti's vast discography, behind the David Lynch tree lies a forest of other rather eclectic film soundtracks, the New Yorker having notably composed for Caro and Jeunet and Jeunet alone, Paul Schrader, Nicole Garcia, Jane Campion and Walter Salles. At the same time, he has also worked for Marianne Faithfull (in 1995, the magnificent album A Secret Life and its grandiose single She) and Julee Cruise (for the magnificent solo albums of the Twin Peaks singer, Floating Into The Night in 1989 and The Voice of Love in 1993) and even composed the theme for the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992!

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