John Williams' 5 Lengthiest Themes

[Sandor 796]

I've been trying to determine the lengthiest themes Williams has written and I think I have narrowed it down to the 'Top 5'. 

 

Two notes:

 

1. I look at the time it takes for a theme to reach completion on the original soundtrack recording. I am not counting the 'number of notes', which would form a completely different criteria to determine 'long lined melodies';

2. With some themes -With Malice Toward None and the Love Theme from The Patriot especially- I took some liberty in determining whether all the melodic content involved is part of a single theme. I can imagine some will state that the themes in question end earlier and that I mistakenly included a B-section. However; I find that these melodies are truly resolved at the end points I indicated below.

 

1. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (LINCOLN)

 

Theme starts: 00:00 - Theme ends: 01:46 | TOTAL TIME: 01:46 minutes

 

 

2. LOVE THEME (THE PATRIOT)

 

Theme starts: 00:05 - Theme ends: 01:45 | TOTAL TIME: 01:40 minutes

 

 

 

3. HYMN TO THE FALLEN (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN)

 

Theme starts: 00:24 - Theme ends: 01:32 | TOTAL TIME: 01:08 minutes

 

 

 

4. THEME (JFK)

 

Theme starts: 00:00 - Theme ends: 01:01 | TOTAL TIME: 01:01 minutes

 

 

 

5. GROWING UP (THE RIVER)

 

Theme starts: 00:29 - Theme ends: 01:21 | TOTAL TIME: 00:52 seconds

 

 

[BB-8 3,461]

Anakin's theme is probably quite lengthy.

[GerateWohl 4,344]

47 minutes ago, Sandor said:

I've been trying to determine the lengthiest themes Williams has written and I think I have narrowed it down to the 'Top 5'. 

 

Two notes...

At first view I thought, that was a joke, talking about lenghtiest themes and as first of your top 5 you refer to the Jaws theme.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

I've always thought that the theme heard in the Main Title from SLEEPERS is pretty serpentine.

[BB-8 3,461]

At which point does Yoda's Theme end?

[Sandor 796]

4 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

At which point does Yoda's Theme end?

 

I would say the melody completes itself between 20 to 30 seconds, which is about the average length of a John Williams theme. Of course, this says nothing about the quality of a melody or theme. In fact; I think John Williams excels at short and long-lined themes. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

The Long Goodbye

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

6 hours ago, BB-8 said:

At which point does Yoda's Theme end?

Around the four minute mark.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

I think Eiger Sanction's main title is quite long.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

Yeah. It seems to be two themes in one. I like it.

[Tom 4,640]

Rey's theme is long-lined depending on how you characterize its parts.  

[BB-8 3,461]

41 minutes ago, Tom said:

Rey's theme is long-lined depending on how you characterize its parts.  

 

Is it true that the introductory chimes of Ray's theme and even the whole theme are based on the Emperor's theme?

 

 

 

[Chen G. 3,944]

If it is, its probably just in the interest of keeping the score unified, not for some underlying thematic reason.

[danbeck 123]

I'll go with the shortest: JAWS.

Two notes are enough. Pure genius!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,508]

"End Title" from JAWS 2, is a lovely, meandering theme.