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"John Williams: A Composer's Life" - Biography by Tim Greiving


Marian Schedenig

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7 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

There should have been a cookie too.

 

Someone please photoshop a cookie monster T-shirt on him.

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The Score to Schindler's List: Dark Forces Conspire

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4 minutes ago, Jay said:

Stay tuned for exclusive content about the book on The Legacy of John Williams as we get closer to release date!

 

https://www.facebook.com/thelegacyofjohnwilliams/posts/pfbid07utUMnY1XXacnx3pHECbmtKVMD6W5XZ8wemDQVo4PFDRK38nsYbcTBhT6CzDbkyUl

Awesome!

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@Maestro, I suppose you must have talked at some lenghts about his music teachers (I'm very curios to compare Williams' recollections about Castelnuovo-Tedesco with Goldsmith's), bit did John expressed any thought about being a teacher himself? I sincerely believe that as a composer, conductor and public figure he has provided more inspiration and motivation than probably hundreds of actual teachers, but I don't think he ever had any pupil at any times in his career. Did he ever considered teaching? Historically it's one of the most common 'side hustles' of professional musicians atvany level (Mozart had pupils!) I think he's given masterclasses in Tanglewood.

Anyway, do you have any insight about this?

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9 minutes ago, Maestro said:

Castelnuovo-Tedesco was actually a very minor figure in JW's education, much more than people assume. The vastly more significant teacher was... well, I want to save some treasures for the book!

 

Robert van Epps! Rosina Lhévinne! Just kidding...these are famous teachers, you've hopefully uncovered someone else.

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14 minutes ago, Maestro said:

he has done masterclasses at Tanglewood (and some universities) as well as some coaching there

 

What does coaching mean in this context, as opposed to giving masterclasses? I assume he didn't coach soccer teams.

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11 minutes ago, Maestro said:

I'm not saying it's a name you've never heard in relation to JW—I just never realized how important and deeply involved one particular teacher was...

 

Alfred Newman! Henry Mancini! Stanley Wilson! Morris Stoloff! His dad!

 

OK, I'll stop now.

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1 hour ago, Maestro said:

 

I've always thought he would make the most incredible teacher—he became my teacher in a ton of ways—and as you say, he has done masterclasses at Tanglewood (and some universities) as well as some coaching there, but otherwise he never taught, and never had apprentices. I can only offer that it's because he wanted to devote ALL of his time to composing and conducting, and that teaching would have gotten in the way of those activities. (He even lamented that composers like David Raksin gave up writing to teach, because of the music we missed out on as a result.) But, I have also come to realize that he was teaching the entire world with his elevated modern classical music; there was an educational, pedagogical aspect to the high level approach he took with his work, and to all of classical allusions within it, and then in how he devoted so much of his time and energy to presenting it to the public. So he IS a teacher... he just let his music do most of the talking.

 

That is very insightful. 100% fact.

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11 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Great question! (Also, can I just say how weird it feels that my username (which I came up with back in 2003) is "Maestro"? It feels WAY too respectful/deferential as a title when people address me on here... LOL.)

 

Castelnuovo-Tedesco was actually a very minor figure in JW's education, much more than people assume. The vastly more significant teacher was... well, I want to save some treasures for the book!

 

I've always thought he would make the most incredible teacher—he became my teacher in a ton of ways—and as you say, he has done masterclasses at Tanglewood (and some universities) as well as some coaching there, but otherwise he never taught, and never had apprentices. I can only offer that it's because he wanted to devote ALL of his time to composing and conducting, and that teaching would have gotten in the way of those activities. (He even lamented that composers like David Raksin gave up writing to teach, because of the music we missed out on as a result.) But, I have also come to realize that he was teaching the entire world with his elevated modern classical music; there was an educational, pedagogical aspect to the high level approach he took with his work, and to all of classical allusions within it, and then in how he devoted so much of his time and energy to presenting it to the public. So he IS a teacher... he just let his music do most of the talking.

 

 

Thank you for your reply Tim!

 

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15 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Alfred Newman! Henry Mancini! Stanley Wilson! Morris Stoloff! His dad!

 

OK, I'll stop now.

Hermann.  The man made one small criticism of his symphony and now it is buried forever. 

 

We should do an office pool for this.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

After pre-ordering maybe a week or so ago, I've just had a refund from Oxford university press. I wonder what that's about. I've emailed to ask.... 

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I pre-ordered mine on February 6th, and nothing out of the ordinary for my order. However, the publication date has been bumped up. It is now listed as July 16th instead of September 1st. That can't be right.

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56 minutes ago, JohnnyD said:

I pre-ordered mine on February 6th, and nothing out of the ordinary for my order. However, the publication date has been bumped up. It is now listed as July 16th instead of September 1st. That can't be right.

 

Fingers crossed that's actually the new date 

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On 25/3/2025 at 1:20 PM, mrbellamy said:

 

Fingers crossed that's actually the new date 


Oxford has since corrected the release date: September 1st. 

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On 29/3/2025 at 3:11 PM, mrbellamy said:

Now it says the 2nd! 

 

And looks like the chapter list is now split into two parts, "Hollywood" and "Tanglewood."


Well, the actual release date is September 2nd. @Maestro is the official word. He informed that Oxford updated the publication date to not interfere with Labor Day. Besides, anyone who pre-order will probably get it prior since it starts shipping August 5th.

 

As for the two parts, that is appropriate as both Hollywood and Tanglewood are part of the Maestro’s life.

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Aw man, the previous cover with the baton and piano in the same shot was aces.  Well, it's the content that matters!

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2 hours ago, Maestro said:

Another update—and a long story that directly involves his majesty: the book has a new cover.

 

 

NEW_Greiving_Chosen.png


@Maestro I have to say that, while the original cover was great, this one outshines it. This was exactly what I imagined the actual cover would be, and I’m glad it is.

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2 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Not yet, sorry! Hopefully I'll know more about such things before long.

 

Another update—and a long story that directly involves his majesty: the book has a new cover.

 

 

NEW_Greiving_Chosen.png

Much better cover IMO

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You know what? That's very true.

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I also like the new cover better. The initial one with the piano and the baton somehow refered to that guy who plays a lot of piano and does much conducting and composing, that we know from so many scores.

But the new cover refers to the person John Williams. I like that.

 

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Old cover had a little more personality and it was a fun effort to capture the piano and baton in there, but yeah, this is moreso the cover I imagined based on the majority of other biographies and I do think the color scheme is a lot easier on the eyes. Also prefer it being "old Williams" and smiling. 

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