Final Thesis - John Williams - ScholarsArchive at Oregon State ...

from working so closely with their compositions. He formed a friendship with
Bernard Herrmann while working as a pianist in some of the Hollywood studios,
which was surprising to many because Herrmann was known for often being bad-
tempered and difficult to approach. He also worked with Henry Mancini very early
in his career on scores such as Peter Gunn. As discussed earlier, many of Williams’
fanfares are reminiscent of Strauss and Korngold’s style of bold and brash themes,
which are apparent in some of his scores such as Indiana Jones and Star Wars.
Working with Franz Waxman in the early portion of his career in the 1950s made an
impact on Williams’ style, especially if you compare some of the music from
Waxman’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the shark theme from Jaws, as well as the
“Flight” theme from The Spirit of St. Louis to some of the stylistic techniques in the
score for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Orchestrator Relationships
Herbert Spencer was both an orchestrator and composer in Hollywood from
the 30s through the 90s. He became most famous for his work with John Williams,
with whom he collaborated stylistically very well. The first film he worked with
Williams on was The Valley of the Dolls, and marked the beginning of a long lasting
professional relationship. John Williams used him almost exclusively on nearly all of
his classic scores such as Star Wars (original trilogy), Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,
Indiana Jones, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Home Alone, and many more.
Orchestrators are usually underappreciated by audiences, but Williams often
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