The lack of “John Williams” literature is astounding. What’s the deal?

[Mr. Gitz 85]

John Williams is easily, hands down, the greatest composer of our generation. It’s not even close. Even if you take the “greatest” and swap it out with “most well known/beloved/popular” it still makes the lack of books written about John Williams…weird. 
 

Doug Adams wrote a tremendous book on Howard Shore’s LOTR score. It was part analysis, part behind the scenes, part archival. Probably one of the great film score books ever written. It goes deeeep. 
 

John Williams wrote the scores to 9 Star Wars films and there’s nothing like that written about them. Nothing. I get that John is humble but the knowledge and insight the world is being denied…it’s frustrating. 
 

there should be documentaries, biographies, analysis of the different eras and franchises. And there’s, from what I can see, nothing. Nothing with his involvement and barely anything without. It’s not as if there is a lack of interest. The same has scored the biggest films of all time! 
 

I read the Doug Adams LOTR book and I both want and NEED that treatment for John Williams. And unfortunately time is ticking.

[Bespin 8,480]

It's because the fun part is to listen to his music, not reading about it!

[Bounty95 558]

Well, I'd love to listen to complete and restored Star Wars music, unfortunately it's not available either 

[Thor 7,490]

Well, there have been numerous John Williams books already, although all of them are based on existing treatises, like the Emilio Audissino one. Furthermore, there are many chapters in many books that aren't specifically about Williams that devote chapters or spaces to him. Kathryn Kalinak's seminal Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film (1992) is a good example.

 

So he's fairly well represented in academic literature.

 

What's a missing is a proper biography that is not based on a treatise and that is more geared towards a general audience. For a long time, I had planned to do one myself, but various issues got in the way that I won't go into here. Williams himself continually refuses to give interviews about his life and career for such projects, so the material needs to be assembled by the author.

[Falstaft 2,132]

50 minutes ago, Mr. Gitz said:

John Williams wrote the scores to 9 Star Wars films and there’s nothing like that written about them. Nothing. I get that John is humble but the knowledge and insight the world is being denied…it’s frustrating. 

 

Oh, I wouldn't go quite that far! The Skywalker Saga spans 40 years of musical work, it takes time to come to terms with the scope of that achievement. 

 

Academic publishing is, alas, extremely slow, but I can say there are big things in the works from multiple authors right now that will fill in exactly those glaring holes in the literature. Patience...

 

If you're looking for a place to start, I'd plug Emilio's book (both versions), as well as the mammoth multiauthor volume he edited (get it from your library if you can't afford it, it's not cheap!). There are also plenty of exceptional scholarly articles out there, though those are generally pitched at a higher level than the books. 

[filmmusic 1,825]

@Mr. Gitz I've written my Ph.D. dissertation on Williams' film music (musicological analysis of his style based on his themes), but I'm afraid it's in Greek.

https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/frontend/file/lib/default/data/2926491/theFile

 

Maybe you can make out something of the various musical examples used. Especially in the 2nd harmony chapter.

 

I don't know which book of the 2 exactly @Thor had in mind, but there is this excellent one too:

https://www.amazon.com/John-Williams-Television-Contemporary-Composers/dp/2503580343

edit: Ah, @Falstaft beat me to it.

[Thor 7,490]

Yes, that's a good one too, filmmusic.

 

Williams' E.T. was -- in fact -- one of the analysis chapters in my own university thesis, but as with filmmusic, it's in my native tongue Norwegian and won't do anyone any good.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

34 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

I've written my Ph.D. dissertation on Williams' film music (musicological analysis of his style based on his themes), but I'm afraid it's in Greek.

https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/frontend/file/lib/default/data/2926491/theFile

 

That's Greek to me. You should get it translated and edited for regular publishing. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

It's all Incannus' fault for not doing that HP3 analysis.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

6 minutes ago, Thor said:

Williams' E.T. was -- in fact -- one of the analysis chapters in my own university thesis, but as with filmmusic, it's in my native tongue Norwegian and won't do anyone any good.

 

Hey, you guys should join forces! The musicological analysis from filmmusic's thesis, and your analysis (I don't know how you want to label it).

[filmmusic 1,825]

8 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

That's Greek to me. You should get it translated and edited for regular publishing. 

There would be a problem I think with the use of musical examples. And there are many!

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

Just now, filmmusic said:

There would be a problem I think with the use of musical examples. And there are many!

 

@Falstaft has musical examples in his book, perhaps he could give some advice?

[filmmusic 1,825]

13 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

@Falstaft has musical examples in his book, perhaps he could give some advice?

What book?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

What book?

 

Highly recommended!  I must admit I was able to read it because I have free access to the eBook through my institution.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Harmony-Musical-Wonder-Cinema/dp/0190606401

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

Just skip the Zimmer part.

[filmmusic 1,825]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Highly recommended!  I must admit I was able to read it because I have free access to the eBook through my institution.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Harmony-Musical-Wonder-Cinema/dp/0190606401

Ah, yes. I had forgotten about it.

Yes, it seems an excellent  book. I had read specific passages that referred to John Williams's music.

IIRC the examples are his personal transcriptions by ear.

Mine, except in 2-3 cases, are taken directly from the original sketches-full scores, so I would have a problem there.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

I guess it could be possible to license the sheet music excerpts. 

 

1 hour ago, Falstaft said:

Academic publishing is, alas, extremely slow, but I can say there are big things in the works from multiple authors right now that will fill in exactly those glaring holes in the literature. Patience...

 

How's it going with your book?

[Falstaft 2,132]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

Mine, except in 2-3 cases, are taken directly from the original sketches-full scores, so I would have a problem there.

 

  I think you'd still be safe in most cases, assuming the examples were partial, reduced, and analytically annotated in some way. Though it really depends on the publisher and how ardently they're willing to defend fair use.

 

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

How's it going with your book?

 

About 1,000 words longer than it was yesterday, I can say that!

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

2 minutes ago, Falstaft said:

About 1,000 words longer than it was yesterday, I can say that!

 

That's great! should be finished soon then! 

[OMATRES 14]

Hello everybody,

 

I imagine you know them, but in Spanish there are two books by Andrés Valverde "John Williams: Vida y Obra" and "Star Wars. La música" which are highly recommended. They should be translated into English. There is also "John Williams: Sinfonias de un nuevo mundo" by Christian Aguilera.

[Thor 7,490]

Yeah, I know those. I hope to read them some day, but again they are based on treatises.

[karelm 2,912]

9 hours ago, Mr. Gitz said:

John Williams is easily, hands down, the greatest composer of our generation. It’s not even close. Even if you take the “greatest” and swap it out with “most well known/beloved/popular” it still makes the lack of books written about John Williams…weird. 
 

Doug Adams wrote a tremendous book on Howard Shore’s LOTR score. It was part analysis, part behind the scenes, part archival. Probably one of the great film score books ever written. It goes deeeep. 
 

John Williams wrote the scores to 9 Star Wars films and there’s nothing like that written about them. Nothing. I get that John is humble but the knowledge and insight the world is being denied…it’s frustrating. 
 

there should be documentaries, biographies, analysis of the different eras and franchises. And there’s, from what I can see, nothing. Nothing with his involvement and barely anything without. It’s not as if there is a lack of interest. The same has scored the biggest films of all time! 
 

I read the Doug Adams LOTR book and I both want and NEED that treatment for John Williams. And unfortunately time is ticking.

 

He's a very private man.  I asked Jon Burlingame the question and his response was sobering...he doubts a biography will be written when he's alive.  Those closest to him respect his privacy and that's a big part of the dearth of literature.  I don't think there is anything salacious or scandalous just someone who deeply guards his privacy.  I also think part of that attitude is generational.  I worked with someone who performed on many of the scores I adored, and I kept on telling them how much their performances on scores like 1941, Close Encounters, Jurassic Park, etc. meant to me and I didn't catch how uncomfortable the accolades made them feel.  They got to the point where they said, "can we just focus on the music?" and I realized my adoration was deeply uncomfortable for them.  That makes so much more sense to me now.  It's literally the same thing I see in others of that generation like Apollo Astronauts to walked on the moon.  They freaking hated talking about it though it was such a momentous moment in history.  For instance, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (1930-2021) of the same generation was invited to talk about aerospace at MIT and the one condition he gave was as long as there are no questions about the moon landing.  From a normal persons point of view, that is the only reason he is famous.  And that is the one thing he's so tired of talking about because from his point of view, he's said all that can be said and he did a job that was requested of him at that time.  For the rest of us, that is insufficient.  To him, he's said all he has to say.  I think JW is like that. 

 

It's not to say they are hiding something or don't want to talk about it.  It's more about they aren't speaking the same language the rest of us are so think they've said it all already thousands of times and keep getting asked the same questions.  A good interviewer, like Burlingame, understands this and can draw truth from them in a way that makes them feel comfortable.  That is very rare and makes them reluctant.  

[JohnTheBaptist 57]

Hard to say, because you don't define "our" generation. But I doubt there's any generation where he's the greatest composer. He was born around the same time as Arvo Pärt, Penderecki, and pretty much all the famous minimalists. Also film music is extremely niche, academics are probably much more likely to get grants related to popular music.

 

[artguy360 1,843]

I think both serious works of literature about a subject (in this case, JW and dedicated work of fans has become blurred in modern times. Now there are forums, blogs, podcasts and YouTubers dedicated to JW in addition to academic or professional work. The same desire to analyze or treat a subject seriously is there for JW, it's just expressed differently.

 

That in addition to, as others have pointed out, how deeply private JW is.

[GerateWohl 4,350]

For books about John Williams there could be basically three areas of subject:

• His personal life
• Analysis of his music
• His career and his collaborations

To be honest, the third one is what I would be most interested in. That is why I enjoy so much Thor's podcast about Williams' TV work. Because it also covers particularly such aspects. 

6 hours ago, karelm said:

 

He's a very private man.  I asked Jon Burlingame the question and his response was sobering...he doubts a biography will be written when he's alive.  Those closest to him respect his privacy and that's a big part of the dearth of literature.  I don't think there is anything salacious or scandalous just someone who deeply guards his privacy.  I also think part of that attitude is generational.  I worked with someone who performed on many of the scores I adored, and I kept on telling them how much their performances on scores like 1941, Close Encounters, Jurassic Park, etc. meant to me and I didn't catch how uncomfortable the accolades made them feel.  They got to the point where they said, "can we just focus on the music?" and I realized my adoration was deeply uncomfortable for them.  That makes so much more sense to me now.  It's literally the same thing I see in others of that generation like Apollo Astronauts to walked on the moon.  They freaking hated talking about it though it was such a momentous moment in history.  For instance, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (1930-2021) of the same generation was invited to talk about aerospace at MIT and the one condition he gave was as long as there are no questions about the moon landing.  From a normal persons point of view, that is the only reason he is famous.  And that is the one thing he's so tired of talking about because from his point of view, he's said all that can be said and he did a job that was requested of him at that time.  For the rest of us, that is insufficient.  To him, he's said all he has to say.  I think JW is like that. 

 

It's not to say they are hiding something or don't want to talk about it.  It's more about they aren't speaking the same language the rest of us are so think they've said it all already thousands of times and keep getting asked the same questions.  A good interviewer, like Burlingame, understands this and can draw truth from them in a way that makes them feel comfortable.  That is very rare and makes them reluctant.  

If what you say is true, I wonder why he doesn't seem to get tired of talking about his early work on Jaws, Superman ans Schindler's List and even focusses in his concerts on works that are at least 30 or 40 years old.

 

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Everyone who'd write a book about his music loves the music so much they ain't got time to stop listening to it and write a book.

[Fabulin 3,511]

8 hours ago, karelm said:

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (1930-2021) of the same generation was invited to talk about aerospace at MIT and the one condition he gave was as long as there are no questions about the moon landing.

Or about Jurassic Park... or the incident in San Diego (in which he was not involved)...

[DangerMotif 1,037]

seems promising