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John Williams (b.1932) - ET Extra Terrestrial

Background

Commenting about his 1996 Oscar-nominated score for Nixon, John Williams said, "People may say that the best film music is that which is not noticed because it is so seamlessly a part of what you see and hear. Certainly, that's largely the way the audience responds as they look and listen, perhaps, to dialogue (superimposed over the music). But there are some areas in the screenplay where the music is more in the open, as it were - when there is a better chance of the audience being consciously aware of the music - as they would be in a concert - but I think those occasions are rare. I think the music provides an emotional pull for the audience that isn't there until you introduce music into a scene."

Although quoted somewhat out of context, John Williams is surely being unduly modest for his screen music is noticed and admired. The Star Wars soundtrack album, for instance, has sold over four million copies - more than any other non-pop album in recording history. Furthermore, his music also stands supremely well independently of the screenplay as the numerous recordings of his work testify. Unlike so many scores that are impoverished of invention after the statement of a solitary main theme, John Williams's music has real integrity - it is superbly crafted with a richness of invention of themes, melody, harmony, dynamics, texture and orchestration. There is always something to interest the ear.

The record shows that he has composed the music and served as music director for more than seventy-five films since 1959. He has received thirty-three Academy Award nominations and has been awarded five Oscars, four British Academy Awards (BAFTAs), and sixteen Grammies as well as several gold and platinum records. His Academy Award scores are: Fiddler on the Roof (Best scoring: adaptation and original song score), Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. and Schindler's List.

There are so many memorable Williams melodies that, once heard, seem to persist in one's head for days. The composer's range and versatility, writing for so many diverse screenplays, is truly remarkable: the childish mischief of The Reivers; the boyish, hero-worship of Empire of the Sun, the terror of Jaws and Jurassic Park; the tragedy of JFK; the mythology and heroics of the sci-fi spectaculars Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (AAN- Academy Award Nomination); the horror of Born on the Fourth of July (AAN); the quirky humour of The Accidental Tourist (AAN); the Boys-Own-Paper thrills of Raiders of the Lost Ark (AAN); the poignancy and compassion of Schindler's List; the sparkling sophistication of Sabrina (AAN); and the dark, disillusionment of Nixon (AAN) - all are unerringly and sensitively caught.

Musicians have often remarked on the skill and imagination with which he has written for their instruments and about his taste and style as an artist but it is also worth mentioning his masterly writing for voices whether they are proclaiming the mystical impenetrability of space or singing in the authentic Jewish idiom in Schindler's List. His Exsultate Justi from Empire of the Sun is a significant composition in its own right.

John Williams is tall and imposing and looks rather "professorish", with his high domed head and shortish beard, yet he looks remarkably youthful. He is quietly spoken and courteous, and answers questions lucidly, thoughtfully and at length.

Talking about his early experiences, John Williams said: "My family moved to California in the late 1940s, when I was a teenager, from New York where my father had played in the CBS Radio Orchestra. At that time I was studying piano. My father worked in the studio orchestras in Hollywood and through his connections I began to meet people and study with teachers who were familiar with the film world and its music. In 1949, as a youngster, I went to Columbia Pictures and played with the orchestra, of which my father was then a member, for one or two days just as a fun outing. Then I used to be invited to join the orchestra if the pianist was absent. I was very fortunate to be so close to film music as a child.

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