John Williams Highschool Yearbook Picture 1950

[Thor 7,495]

Are you guys willfully ignoring the difference between "regular folks" and historically important people just to make a conceded point?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

I did say "public person", didn't I?

 

There is absolutely no OBLIGATION to know anything about their private life. It may be of interest to you, which is fine (to some degree), but OBLIGATION? That's pushing it.

[Thor 7,495]

True, but the type of private lives you guys are comparing it to, has very little to do with what we're talking about here. I repeat:

 

Quote

Quite the contrary, it's everyone's business -- and OBLIGATION -- to have a full understanding of the lives of the greatest minds and public figures of our time; people who shaped our popular culture. It's not like we're chronicling Williams' toilet frequency or what he does in the weekends. No, it's more getting a grasp of a timeline (illustrated by this wonderful thread) and a persona behind the music, especially where it intersects with professional output.

 

In other words, basic stuff which you find in most biographies or lexicon entries for great artists throughout history. Sadly, for Williams these things are lacking; hence we have to construct them ourselves, by combining multiple sources.

 

In keeping with this thread, here's another great photo of Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone when they were both attending the same school as kids:

 

 

I know...what an OUTRAGE to post personal stuff like this.....

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

23 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

These are all public photos i think..it is not as if someone just got into Williams house and stole a box of old photos....

 

That french horn stunt was just a diversion.

[karelm 2,913]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

True, but the type of private lives you guys are comparing it to, has very little to do with what we're talking about here. I repeat:

 

 

In other words, basic stuff which you find in most biographies or lexicon entries for great artists throughout history. Sadly, for Williams these things are lacking; hence we have to construct them ourselves, by combining multiple sources.

 

In keeping with this thread, here's another great photo of Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone when they were both attending the same school as kids:

 

 

I know...what an OUTRAGE to post personal stuff like this.....

 

Oh come on Thor, you'll probably find this photograph of Mozart's widow interesting (sarcasm!) A photograph taken in October 1840 shows Mozart's widow, Constanze (front left). Photograph: Ho Stadt Altoetting/AFP/Getty Images

[Thor 7,495]

Yeah, that's pretty cool! Who's the old guy?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

16 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Last time I checked, I was not a major cultural figure of the last century. But I thank you for the backhanded compliment. 

 

Werent you famous in Norway? Scandinavia even?

[TownerFan 4,983]

16 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

I did say "public person", didn't I?

 

There is absolutely no OBLIGATION to know anything about their private life. It may be of interest to you, which is fine (to some degree), but OBLIGATION? That's pushing it.

 

"Obligation" might be a strong word indeed. However, it's perfectly normal to search for accurate biographical informations and details about an artist, but that is mainly the work of the biographer, the historian or the researcher. It's down to what is the final purpose of the research. If it's purely aiming at historical accuracy for a specific project (a book, a documentary) then it's perfectly acceptable. And the researcher knows well that there are intrisic limits in it (i.e. some holes will remain and they can only be filled with informed assumptions). What could be truly disturbing is if this research is not based on any related serious project or study, but purely on obsessive/unhealthy curiosity about the artist's life. And we know that the whole western world is quite obsessed in knowing every single detail of a celebrity's private life--there's actually a whole industry that lives upon these things..

 

Now, about Williams, I think we already know quite a lot about his youth and early years. Of course there might be some discrepancies in some dates and years, but imho nothing really substantial is missing to build an accurate biography. Okay, maybe not a super-uber-detailed one, but I'd say pretty accurate nonetheless. I don't know what are Thor's purposes in this research about JW's early life. Sometimes he seems just a tad too obsessed  but I guess it's not mere stalking.

[Thor 7,495]

As I've said on several occasions, I DO have plans for a Williams book down the road, the first to be more biographical in nature and thus requiring very detailed knowledge about his timeline.

 

But even if I hadn't, I strongly maintain that it's a DUTY and OBLIGATION to chronicle the life of our greatest cultural minds, both professional output and personal details -- especially those that relate to the former. I've already expounded upon this to make it perfectly clear what I mean  (that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the TMZ.com-type gossip bank that you all seem to think it's about), and I feel we're just going in circles here.

 

To honest, I'm a little provoked by the disinterest and casual dismissals of the importance of this information. It's like some of you have never read a proper biography in your life. We're not even CLOSE to having anything similar for Williams.

[TownerFan 4,983]

I do not dismiss your quest for these biographical informations. If you're a writer/historian and your final goal is to write the most exhaustive John Williams biography ever done, then I can totally understand why it's so important for you. I think every writer who tackles a biography ultimately becomes kind of obsessed with the subject of the piece, so you're no different. I can only wish you good luck!

 

However, and this is just my own humble opinion, I think we're not even close in having more serious studies about Williams' music than a life-spanning biography of him.

[Thor 7,495]

36 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

I do not dismiss your quest for these biographical informations. If you're a writer/historian and your final goal is to write the most exhaustive John Williams biography ever done, then I can totally understand why it's so important for you. I think every writer who tackles a biography ultimately becomes kind of obsessed with the subject of the piece, so you're no different. I can only wish you good luck!

 

Thank you.

 

Quote

 

However, and this is just my own humble opinion, I think we're not even close in having more serious studies about Williams' music than a life-spanning biography of him.

 

Sure, that's also a bottomless pit, really. But to be fair, the few books that have been released about Williams have all been based on musicological research and theses (the biographical data have been flimsy, at best).

 

My book would -- in addition to the biographical information -- also include analyses of the film music, but from an interpretative, film aesthetic viewpoint (as that's my expertise). Less musicological (which is NOT my expertise).

[Quintus 5,399]

On 08/03/2017 at 11:05 AM, BloodBoal said:

I want to see pictures of him as a baby on the potty.

 

Did Williams have trouble defecating when he was a kid? I think we need and we deserve to know.

 

More than anything I've always wanted to know what John looks like just as he blows his load.