Vale Angelo Badalamenti, The Legendary Composer Behind ‘Twin Peaks’
The legendary composer died of natural causes this week, aged 85.
Legendary film and television composer Angelo Badalamenti, best known for his collaboration with American filmmaker David Lynch across the cult television series Twin Peaks, has passed away aged 85.
Over a career that spanned musical collaborations with artists ranging from David Bowie and the Pet Shop Boys to mainstream film soundtracks for The Wicker Man and Nightmare On Elms Street 3: Dream Warriors, Badalamenti was loved by audiences all around the world.
Initially writing the song ‘Mysteries of Love’ for Lynch’s suburban horror film Blue Velvet, Badalamenti’s collaboration with the director extended through many of his critically acclaimed films, including Mulholland Drive and Wild At Heart. But his talent at translating Lynch’s dreamlike and emotional character writing into musical notation was perhaps best defined across the three seasons of the legendary cult television series Twin Peaks.
While Badalamenti would later write and score much of the soundtrack for Twin Peaks, his work on the series started with its theme song after director David Lynch dropped in to meet with the composer during the early stages of writing the show.
“He sat next to me at the keyboard and said, ‘I haven’t shot anything, but it’s like you are in a dark woods with an owl in the background and a cloud over the moon and sycamore trees are blowing very gently….'” Badalamenti recounted to Spirit and Flesh Magazine.
“I started to press the keys for the opening chord to ‘Twin Peaks Love Theme’, because it was the sound of that darkness. He said, ‘A beautiful troubled girl is coming out of the woods, walking towards the camera….'”
“The notes just came out. David was stunned, as was I. The hair on his arms was up and he had tears in his eyes: ‘I see Twin Peaks. I got it.’ I said, ‘I’ll go home and work on it.’ ‘Work on it?! Don’t change a note.’ And of course I never did.”
Written in just 20 minutes, Badalamenti’s talent really has to be seen to be believed. A viral clip of Badalamenti recounting how the theme was created has been shared extensively following the composer’s death. The actual clip itself is so evocative, it was even remixed by Chilean-American producer Nicholas Jarr.
The composer’s death was announced on David Lynch’s YouTube channel, with the director simply stating: “Today, no music.”