Do you think that Williams has composed more works than we know of?

[Fabulin 3,510]

well?

 

 

[King Mark 3,625]

Maybe he has drawers full of ureleased themes that he uses when he has a new movie to score

[Datameister 2,037]

Probably. Certainly plenty of material that'll never be recorded, stuff he's written over the years just to stay sharp between projects. I seem to recall him mentioning how it's his habit to just write, write, write, no matter whether he's got a film he's working on. That was some years ago; not sure how much that still holds true.

[Tom 4,634]

I have always thought the scherzo for piano and orchestra was intended to be a movement in a full piano concerto--probably more a pipe dream than anything else, but maybe the full concerto sits in a drawer or a in safe behind that picture of him conducting.  

[Edmilson 7,385]

I read somewhere (probably here) that he initially intended to write a new march for the opening of The Phantom Menace. It would be interesting to find out if he actually wrote that march (and showed it to someone).

[mrbellamy 6,272]

I'm counting on it lol

[BrotherSound 2,242]

Let's just hope he's hung onto anything he may have composed or started on that's never seen the light of day, and didn't say...burn it in a fireplace, like Sibelius did!

[Tom 4,634]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

I read somewhere (probably here) that he initially intended to write a new march for the opening of The Phantom Menace. It would be interesting to find out if he actually wrote that march (and showed it to someone).

I don't think that was the report. He mentioned he wrote a new opening piece, as SW main title is Luke's theme.  It is widely assumed, though not confirmed, that it was DotF--though probably a tweaked version for the opening.  

[Jay 37,285]

Why would anyone think the answer is no?  Doesn't every composer have something written that hasn't been recorded yet?

[Bayesian 1,359]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

I have always thought the scherzo for piano and orchestra was intended to be a movement in a full piano concerto--probably more a pipe dream than anything else, but maybe the full concerto sits in a drawer or a in safe behind that picture of him conducting.  

A proper JW piano concerto: what a gift that could be to the classical-loving public! I’d like to think it wouldn’t take long for it to join the concert pianist’s standard repertory. Maybe even get regularly programmed with other composers with single piano concertos (Ravel, Grieg, Schumann...)

[Darth Mulder 153]

3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I read somewhere (probably here) that he initially intended to write a new march for the opening of The Phantom Menace. It would be interesting to find out if he actually wrote that march (and showed it to someone).

 

There has rumors that he composed alternate opening fanfare for The Phantom Menace.  Lucas refused it, because he wanted classic fanfare from The Original Trilogy. I've been curious about it for many years. Maybe Williams used it for other score in changed form. Idk

[Datameister 2,037]

My guess is that it never progressed past a basic piano demo. He probably never even wrote anything down. Who knows, though?

[Bryant Burnette 654]

I might be misremembering, but didn't he say that he writes something almost every day?  If so, then this question answers itself.

[Fabulin 3,510]

5 hours ago, Jay said:

Why would anyone think the answer is no?  Doesn't every composer have something written that hasn't been recorded yet?

3 hours ago, Bryant Burnette said:

I might be misremembering, but didn't he say that he writes something almost every day?  If so, then this question answers itself.

 

People obsess over unreleased 20 seconds of a track of some score, while supposedly Williams is writing every day. I was wondering how is it possible that there is no speculation to be found about just how much has Williams written over time, that we haven't heard yet. Even if he was writing a few bars a day, that could amount to a new piece every year he was working.

 

I thought it would be nice to have a dedicated "Williams dark matter" thread.

[Thor 7,465]

I'm almost certain Williams has musical pieces lying around that we're not aware of.

 

I'm primarily interested in any possible composition prior to the piano sonata (1951), which is the earliest JW composition we're aware of. Gotta be some child/teenage stuff in his drawers somewhere. Or - in fact - other student pieces etc.

 

As others have said, he composes something every day, even if it's not a commission. So yeah -- oodles of stuff from the early days to whatever he's doing now in covid lockdown.

[GerateWohl 4,328]

Sure there will be things, collections of ideas, scetches, full pieces. Still I think, a lot of things might not be published for good reasons. For example if the composer thinks, the piece is not good enough, does, not fulfill his standards etc.

In the end it always should be the composers decision what gets published and what not. 

I am thinking of the example of the posthum published stories of René Goscinny's "Le petit Nicolas". His daughter I think found manuscripts of unpublished stories. Obviously the author considered them as not good enough for publishing. And in fact they really were not as good. But they got published anyway. Of course for the reader it is an interesting insight that also great masters create mediocre stuff and they are not like King Midas and everything they touch becomes gold. But I think, also in an artist's work there should be some kind of privacy.

[Fabulin 3,510]

18 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Sure there will be things, collections of ideas, scetches, full pieces. Still I think, a lot of things might not be published for good reasons. For example if the composer thinks, the piece is not good enough, does, not fulfill his standards etc.

Then next to nothing by Williams would ever be published 

[karelm 2,903]

There is no doubt about it. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

What about the theme for the Japanese Fan Club? He'll certainly never compose one for this place.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Of course the answer is yes.

 

It would be nice indeed if a full Piano Concerto or an extra Symphony or two exists.  

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

17 hours ago, BrotherSound said:

Let's just hope he's hung onto anything he may have composed or started on that's never seen the light of day, and didn't say...burn it in a fireplace, like Sibelius did!

 

There's also the Terry Pratchett option: He had a steamroller destroy the hard drives with his unfinished works after his death.

[BrotherSound 2,242]

13 hours ago, Datameister said:

My guess is that it never progressed past a basic piano demo. He probably never even wrote anything down. Who knows, though?

 

I'll have to track down which interview mentioned this again, but I recall it seemed like it was just a vague idea that never made it past the concept stage, Williams suggesting a different main title would be warranted for a new trilogy, but Lucas requesting to stick with the original.

 

If there is any trace of an alternate main title in the score, though, my money's on 'The Flag Parade' rather than 'Duel of the Fates'. It's  slower and more majestic, and has got a fairly similar opening fanfare to the main title.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

7 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

What about the theme for the Japanese Fan Club? He'll certainly never compose one for this place.

 

He should compose a suite, one movement for every subforum

[Jay 37,285]

Wow the Tolkien movement would be dope

[SteveMc 2,674]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

Wow the Tolkien movement would be dope

Mattriss needs his own theme badly.

[Fabulin 3,510]

.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Now I wanna figure out what each subforum's Williams piece would be haha

 

Off the top of my head

 

Welcome!, "Sound the Bells!"

JWFan Reviews, "The Presses Roll"

Site Updates, Bugs, and Tech Support, "Pre-Crime Commercial"

The Marketplace, "The Basket Chase"

 

Hmmmmmmmm

[pete 903]

A friend who isn't a filmscore fan per se told me he knew of a documentary filmmaker who had some personal connection to Williams, and that he scored one doc annonymously for free. 

My friend wouldn't knowing lie about that, but he could well have been mistaken. He said he heard about it a long time ago. He didn't remember the name of the filmmaker nor the documentary name.

 

I didn't really put much stock in the idea with so little to go on, and I thought it possible he misheard the story etc. Anyway, it is a mouth-watering idea that somewhere out there is a doc with an unknown Williams score. 

[Jay 37,285]

Doesn't sound plausible to me

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Well Horner apparently scored at least one student film toward the end of his life

 

 

 

Wonder how often he did stuff like that, and if Williams has done anything similar. Would be cool to hear.

[Jay 37,285]

Wow

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

He probably has it all written up here  At least I know from experience I do.

[GerateWohl 4,328]

15 hours ago, BrotherSound said:

 

I'll have to track down which interview mentioned this again, but I recall it seemed like it was just a vague idea that never made it past the concept stage, Williams suggesting a different main title would be warranted for a new trilogy, but Lucas requesting to stick with the original.

 

If there is any trace of an alternate main title in the score, though, my money's on 'The Flag Parade' rather than 'Duel of the Fates'. It's  slower and more majestic, and has got a fairly similar opening fanfare to the main title.

I still think, the best compromise between new main title and something familiar would have been a march based on the Force Theme like The Throne Room or something like that. Would have made sense. But it probably wouldn't have made the movies better.

[SilverTrumpet 638]

For an entire year he's had no recording sessions, no concerts, and no films to score.

 

I don't think the guy's just sitting on his thumb. I'm sure he's using it as an opportunity to compose.

[Jay 37,285]

Absolutely