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

Relation of Selected Scores
John Williams once stated of film composers that “So much of what we do is
ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have
something you have done linger in people's memories” (Clemmensen). The
significance of the film scores selected in this paper is to show representations of
different eras in John Williams’ career in order to compare their similarities and
differences. While many critics of Williams complain that he borrow or steals from
many classic composers, there is hardly a composer a today who does not borrow in
some way from their thematic elements. Most of the similarities found between
Williams’ scores and classical composers, or even at times other film composers, are
merely echoes of ideas. While originality is an important quality in film composition,
it is more important to use creativity and originality in the development of the ideas
to create an emotional response with the audience.
One of Williams’ greatest talents and skills is his ability to create musical
themes that evoke the perfect emotional response within the audience based on the
action on screen. Some of his more prominent films such as Jaws, Star Wars, E.T.,
etc., may not have experienced the same level of success or achieved such high
standing in public opinion with a different score.
The score for Jaws is notable in its minimalism, which is similar to Igor
Stravinsky’s style of bold and brash tones with less symphonic melodies. A huge
contrast to this score would be Memoirs of a Geisha where there is rarely more than
1-2 minutes devoid of music. Even though the film contains such a rich mixture of
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