By: Mark Campbell

John Williams

BiographyFull name: John Towner

Williams

Born February 8, 1932

Son of a percussionist

• Always had an interest in music

• Wanted to become a concert pianist

• At 16, started his own jazz band

• At 19, premiered his first original piece, a piano sonata.

• Studied orchestration at UCLA and the Los Angeles City College

• Attended Julliard to study piano

The Young Musician

Welcome to Hollywood

• Returned to California in the late 1950s• Wanted to start a career in Hollywood• Started as a piano player

• Starting composing for television

• Won an Emmy in Outstanding Acheivement in Musical Composition for his work in Jane Eyre and Heidi

• Success led to composing for film

From Television to Films

• Won his first Oscar in Best

Original Scoring Adaption and

Original Song Score for Fiddler on

the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof

Williams and Spielberg: A Blockbuster Team

Williams composed all but 2 of Spielberg’s films

Some major collaborations include:

• Jaws

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind

• Raiders of the Lost Ark

• E.T. The Extra-Terrestial

• Jurassic Park

• Composed the score for Star Wars in 1977

• Won Best Original Score for Star Wars

• Best-selling score only soundtrack

• Continued and wrote the scores for The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi

• Received Academy Award nominations for both sequels

Williams and Lucas

Awards:

5 Academy Awards

2 Emmys

3 Golden Globes

6 Saturns

7 BAFTA awards

18 Grammys

And the winner is…

• In 1980, named Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra

• Retired as conductor in 1993

• Boston Pops Laureate Conductor

• Has appeared as a guest conductor :

-London Symphony-Cleveland Orchestra-Philadelphia Orchestra-Chicago Symphony-Pittsburgh Symphony-Dallas Symphony-San Francisco Symphony-Los Angeles Philharmonic

Orchestra Conductor

• Composed the Olympic Fanfare and Theme for the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

• Received an Emmy for Olympic Fanfare and Theme

• Composed Summon the Heroes in 1988

• Composed Call of the Champions for 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City

• In 2003, awarded the Olympic Order

Let the Games Begin!

“These individuals and organizations show us how many ways art works every day. They represent the breadth and depth of American architecture, design, film, music, performance, theatre, and visual art” -NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman

National Medal of ArtsHonor for Artistic Excellence

Composition HistoryStar Wars Main Title from Star Wars: Episode IV- A New

Hope

The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Olympic Fanfare and Theme

• Composed in 1977

• Associated with the film’s protagonist, Luke Skywalker, adventure, and heroism

• Gives “the beginning of the record the feeling of an overture”

• Nominated for album of the year at the Grammy Awards

• Won an Oscar for Best Original Score

• Best-selling score-only soundtrack of all time

Star Wars Main Title

• Known as the Indiana Jones Theme

• Nominated for Best Original Score at the Academy Awards

• Won Grammy for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special in 1982

• Originally two pieces but Williams, at Spielberg’s recommendation, created a combo

The Raiders March

• Composed for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles

• Conducted the debut at the Opening Ceremony at the Los Angeles Coliseum

• According to Williams, this song represented “the spirit of cooperation, or heroic achievement, all the striving and preparation that go before the events and all the applause that comes after them”

Olympic Fanfare and Theme

Listening Guide

2:06 Brass as the melody leads the way back to the theme.

2:14 The woods and strings then bring a more calm and peaceful part.

2:24 Whole orchestra plays the main theme.

2:41 The strings play the melody again.

2:56 Brass and percussion enter to lead into the chorus. Orchestra plays allegro. Slowly decrescendos.

3:16 Strings have a solo. As the strings crescendo, the brass and percussion entering forte.

3:59 The main theme is repeated and played allegro.

4:20 The brass and percussion fade. The strings again play the theme legato.

4:35 Full orchestra plays together to crescendo into the final part of the music.

4:59 Music softens before increasing tempo and loudness.

5:19 Strong deliberate notes end the piece. The percussion creates a drum roll-like beat, lasting the last thirty seconds of the piece with the brass making the final note together with the full orchestra.

0:00 Opens with a fanfare from the brass and percussion.

0:08 The full orchestra enters with the brass instruments staying strong with the main theme of this piece.

0:17 Percussion keeps a strong, even rhythm resulting in a march-like beat.

0:25 The woods have their moment with strings, and play the melody legato which brings a lighter moment in the music.

0:39 The brass and percussion coming in forte.

0:48 The orchestra repeats the theme featured at 0:08.

1:06 Brass continues to play while the other instruments stop. Brass decrescendo. Flutes have small solo.

1:37 Orchestra begins to crescendo with the percussion and brass.

1:45 Brass and percussion play a strong beat, very staccato. Then followed by the rest of the orchestra coming in.

Star Wars Main Title

0:00 Brass fanfare with percussion begin the song with the main theme.

0:45 Trumpet fanfare. Including percussion. All orchestra enters.

1:00 Brass backs off and just a little drumming on the snare drum.

1:07 Strings and snare drum playing together legato. This is followed by small part of brass and woods.

1:37 Strings and low brass and woods play the melody together with high brass chiming in here and there.

1:52 Strings and the low brass play together piano.

2:07 French horns, woods, percussion, and low brass play together followed by high brass entering forte.

2:37 The woodwinds play with percussion. High brass enters again to crescendo into the main theme.

2:54 Trumpets fanfare

3:07 Percussion solo, followed by high brass and entire orchestra, with high brass cresendoing.

3:37 The full orchestra playing the main theme together allegro.

4:00 Strong high brass and percussion and then full orchestra hits final note together and fades away.

Olympic Fanfare and Theme

0:00 Trumpets begin with fanfare for Indiana Jones theme with little amount by percussion section. Slight crescendo before full orchestra begins.

0:37 Full orchestra has entered, woods begin melody with the brass and percussion entering together cresendo in the next part of the song.

1:07 The brass and percussion leads to theme, sounding like a march.

1:18 Orchestra repeats theme forte, percussion beats an even tempo. Cymbals enter at peak of theme.

1:37 Strong presence from the brass and percussion play allegro the main part of the march with the strings and woods playing the softer side. This leads into the next part with a decrescendo.

2:07 The woods and strings decrescendo into a softer and peaceful tone and continue this with a strong presence by the French horns. The music gradually goes up and down like a wave.

2:40 Music continues legato with the softness of the woods, strings, and French horns with crescendo and decrescendo.

3:20 The music becomes more forte. The softness begins to fade and the lower brass begins the transition to the main theme with high brass entering.

3:55 Low brass leads into high brass into the main theme.

4:00 The full orchestra enters forte to be playing the melody of the main theme allegro. Strong percussion sets a steady rhythm.

4:35 Strong percussion and high brass continue the theme and full orchestra comes in for to finish strong.

The Raiders March

20 February 2008. 26 September 2011. <http://www.johnwilliams.org/>.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. The Official Academy Awards Database. n.d. 26 September 2011.

<http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearchInput.jsp>.

History. n.d. 28 September 2011. <http://www.starwarsthemusic.com/history>.

IMDb. "John Williams." n.d. The Internet Movie Database. 24 September 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002354/>.

—. Raiders of the Lost Ark. n.d. 29 September 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971>.

"IOC awards the Olympic Order to John Williams." 01 May 2003. Olympic.org: Official Website of the Olympic Movement. 25 September 2011. <http://www.olympic.org/media?articleid=56284>.

Lintgen, Arthur. "Classical Recording: Williams- "Star Wars 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition." Fanfare- The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors March 2008: 281-283.

London Symphony Orchestra. "John Williams- Greatest Hits 1969-1999." cond. John Williamsn. By John Williams. 2009.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark: Editorial Review." 28 December 2008. FilmTracks. 28 September 2011. <http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/raiders.html>.

"White House Announces 2009 National Medal of Arts Recipients." 25 February 2010. National Endowment for the Arts. 30 September 2011.

<http://www.nea.gov/news/news10/Medals.html>.

 

References