Jerry Goldsmith 1929 - 2004

[JoeinAR 1,949]

He's not really gone you know, not as long as we remember his music.

Joe, listening to his favorite Jerry Goldsmith piece, and no it's not the Enterprise,

The Waltons

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Damn...i still can't really get my head around it.

Only a few years ago I sat one meter away from him, now he's gone forever.

Doesn't seem real?

[Lord Gibson 0]

My condolences.

I dont like doing this, but it is my way to pay tribute to any composer, singer, songwiter that passes: I will now start playing every Jerry Goldsmith album that I own.

"The Sand Storm" - The Mummy

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I suggest that today, in his memory that we temporarily rename the site the JGFan.net, to honor him.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ricard's announcement on his main page is pure class.

Thans Ricard!

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticl...17&section=news

Mrs Goldsmith said her husband always refused to choose a favourite among his works saying, "My favourite score is the one I haven't written yet."

She added, "He also used to lecture his film school students that if they were scoring a scene for a man on a horse galloping away, you don't score the gallop but you score the fear of the rider."

That was Goldsmith -- he approached each scene with the full narrative arch in mind. He wrote to comment and not merely to mirror.

[Falstaft 2,132]

I'm barely able to hold back my tears listening to his music right now.

Jerry, now you've joined the ranks of Hollywood's immortal, a place where you truly belong.

[Eplicon 53]

NPR put up an audio obituary, along with excerpts from a tribute they a few years ago, with comments from Goldsmith and Lukas Kendall.

[Lurker 5]

There is a very nice tribute to Mr. Goldsmith at Star Trek.com.

Neil

[Beowulf 4]

This is a sad day for music-lovers the world over. Goodbye Mr. Goldsmith and thank you for your gift of beautiful and wonderful music. May you rest in peace.

- Shyam

[A24 4,333]

I would also like to thank Jerry one more time for the magnificent re-recordings of Alex North by which he proved himself to be an fantastic interpreter and conductor. Thanks so very much, Jerry.

----------------

Alex Cremers

[King Mark 3,631]

I couldn't hold back the tears. :cry: I have abourt 50 Goldsmith c.d's,the second most after Williams.

K.M.

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

(I posted this earlier at the TFN forum.)

I was watching TV today and had just tuned in to watch Star Trek: TNG. When the theme came on, I listened and admired it as I often do. Then during a commercial I got online and went to the IMDb and saw the news that Jerry Goldsmith had passed away. :cry:

R.I.P., Jerry.

My first JG tribute listen today: "End Credits" fron Star Trek: First Contact.

May you conduct the Orchestra of Angels in Heaven surrounded by rest of your fellow composers.

I was thinking the same thing. There must be quite a concert going on up there today.

[Johnnyecks 33]

Oh my God. What an awful way to start my browsing on the internet!

Deep down, I had the feeling that this would happen soon because of his illnesses over the past few years but it wasn't enough to prepare me for the actual day.

Now, I can't hold back the tears.

Thank you Mr. Goldsmith for the many years of listening to your enjoyable music. May you rest peacefully.

You will continue on in the hearts of your friends, family, and the many people whose lives you touched through your craft.

Very sad. Very very sad.

I cannot express it more than that.

[Johnnyecks 33]

I was thinking about what I would listen to today to honor the memory of one of my most idolized film music masters. Wanting to satisfy my emotions by playing his sadder music, instead of bringing several cd's in the car with me on my way to work I decided to make a quick compilation. I was focusing on his more subdued sadder works, when I realized that I couldn't honor his memory by limiting my choices to the music that will fit my mood I decided to add in some tracks from his more famous works along with the cues I wanted. What I got was a good 3 disc set. I would like to share the track list. What do you think?

Disc 1:

1: Patton - Main Title

2: " - First Attack

3: " - Attack

4: " - German Advance

5: " - End Titles

6: Take A Hard Ride - Main Title

7: A Girl Namned Sooner - Main Title

8: Bad Girls - The Hanging

9: Bad Girls - My Land

10: Planet Of The Apes - The Hunt

11: The Boys From Brazil - Waltz

12: First Knight - Arthur's Fanfare

13: " - Camelot Lives

14: " - Arthur's Farewell

15: Magic - Main Title

16: Magic - Appassionata

17: Air Force One - Main Title

18: " - The Parachutes

19: " - Escape From Air Force One

20: " - Welcome Aboard Sir

Disc 2:

1: Alien - Suite

2: Star Trek Series - Symphonic Suite

3: The Edge - Deadfall

4: " - End Titles

5: The Flim Flam Man - Main Title

6: The Omen - Ave Satani (Had to include this, since he won the Oscar)

I wanted to save some of my favorite sappy music to put all on one cd, so I cut disc 2 short.

Disc 3:

1: Soarin

2: Powder (From Boot, so no track titles. The numbers aren't representive of the cd, however, but the order that they show on this cd) - Track One

3: " - Track Two

4: " - Track Three

5: " - Track Four

6: The Russia House - Main Title

7: The Final Conflict - The Hunt

8: " - End Title

9: The General's March

10: Rudy - Final Game

11: Twilight Zone: The Movie - Kick The Can

12: Mulan - Suite

13: Last Castle - Sept. 11

14: Poltergeist - Carol Anne's Theme

[King Mark 3,631]

Apparently this wasn't "Entertainement Tonight" worthy news

K.M.

[Morlock 11]

But I'm glad AICN and IMDB had soemthing special about it. I was afraid they might not take notice.

[Rogue_Leader 2]

ARRRGHHHHHHHH!

Man I just heard about this and I gotta say I am pissed and deeply saddened.

Two reasons:

1) Jerry Goldsmith was and will always be a legend in film scoring and his music will always be cherished and the loss of him is a major blow to film music fans everywhere.

2) He was not much older than Williams and it makes me REALLY wonder how much longer he will be with us.

[Danielle 0]

I threw together a selection of cues from over the years for listening to today. It has made me realise just how many truly amazing scores the great man worked on, how many great ones I routinely forget about, and how many great ones I still need to give a more thorough listen to.

1) The Enterprise - Star Trek: The Motion Picture

2) Without Help - Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier

3) First Contact - Star Trek: First Contact

4) Ba'ku Village - Star Trek: Insurrection

5) Final Flight - Star Trek: Nemesis

6) Main Title - Patton

7) Ave Satani - The Omen

8) Runaway Train - Damien: Omen 2

9) The Final Conflict

10) The Mission - The Sum of All Fears

11) The Cockroach Attack - Damnation Alley

12) First Flight - Explorers

13) Arrival on Earth/Flying Ballet - Supergirl

14) Diane - The Vanishing

15) Main Title - 100 Rifles

16) The Landing - Alien

17) Main Title - The Blue Max

18) Vacation's End/End Title - The 'burbs

19) Lost In the Wild - The Edge

20) Overture - Mulan

21) Gremlin Credits - Gremlins 2

22) The Victor - LA Confidential

23) The Ring - Legend

24) A Lot Better - Leviathan

25) Night Boarders - The Mummy

26) Spiders - Outland

27) King Richard - Lionheart

28) Main Title - Capricorn One

29) Main Title - Take a Hard Ride

30) The Sun - Logan's Run

31) Theme From Papillon

32) The Hunt - Planet of the Apes

33) Gale's Theme (Main Title) - The River Wild

34) Overture - The Sand Pebbles

35) Moving Day - The Secret of N.I.M.H

36) The Hanging - Bad Girls

37) The Hijacking - Air Force One

38) Judge Dredd Trailer

39) Main Title - Magic

40) You're a Foolish Man, Mr Flint - Our Man Flint

41) The Calling / The Neighbourhood - Poltergeist

42) Reaching Out - Poltergeist 2

43) Off to Gorgon - Small Soldiers

44) Main Title - Basic Instinct

45) End Title - The Swarm

46) Clever Girl - Total Recall

47) Arthur's Farewell / Pyre at Sea - First Knight

Unbelievable music, from a true legend.

[Guest]

Oh my God. What an awful way to start my browsing on the internet!

Indeed. I found out the same way. I have spent the day listening to his music. I also made a Jerry Goldsmith tribute banner for the Music forum on the tf.n boards. I think I might just make a Goldsmith music CD as a tribute.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Jerry Goldsmith was my film music god along side John Williams and Danny Elfman. I am deeply saddened by this news. I didn't expect this to happen so soon and so abruptly.

:cry:

[Danielle 0]

I agree Drax. It's not like there wasn't plenty of evidence that he wasn't going to be with us much longer, but it still came as such a shock. It felt like I'd been sucker-punched when I loaded up the main page today. it is so hard to believe that such a legend is gone.

Along with Williams and Horner, Goldsmith was the name that I always recognised as a kid, names that I immediately linked to great films - I didn't recognise just how great film music could be then, I just knew that there was sometimes something different about a film that placed it up higher... It took me a while to realise it was the music that was improving these films. Thanks to Jerry's music, I could go back and watch films like Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Supergirl over and over again, even though I didn't think either of them was a particularly good film.

[Eplicon 53]

Goldsmith and Williams were the two key composers that I felt were responsible being a filmmusic aficionado almost 30 years ago, the only real difference is that I discovered Goldsmith while watching many of his films on TV, whereas with Williams, I saw most of his films in the theatre.

Back in the day when TV or cable stations would actually air good/classic films, I soaked up Planet of the Apes, Papillon, The Omen, and others, including shows with his well known TV themes. As a kid, I was always intrigued that he actually a great name that befitted the quality of work that he produced. And every time I'd see his name in the credits, I pretty much expected a very good score (or if it was the end credits, I would realize why I liked such and such a score so much).

While his death came suddenly and caught me by surprise, I wasn't totally stunned by the news since I knew he was not in very good health the past year. Yet his passing slowly closes the curtain from an era of the composers who were from the same time period, the ones the bridged the gap between the Golden Age to the contemporary stuff -- Bernstein, Rosenman, Williams, etc. (with Williams being the youngest of the three). Others may fill his shoes in the years ahead, but Goldsmith can never be replaced.

He worked 50 years. He lived 75 years. His music lives forever.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Two pieces of bad news on the front JWfan.net page. "Williams not doing Harry Potter 4" and "Jerry Goldsmith Passes Away". I don't even want to guess how much worse it could get.

Jerry's music has always been important to me. But what really impresses me is how cool he was bringing such brilliant scores to such mediocre or even bad films like King Solomon's Mines, Supergirl, Poltergeist II: The Other Side and The Sum of All Fears. I hope he didn't feel that he was living in the shadow of John Williams simply because he scored superior films, I'm sure he knew that would have been the wrong attitude because his music was just as brilliant and diverse.

I'll continue to collect his soundtracks and listen to his scores for many years to come. Sometimes I'll watch an otherwise forgettable film just because it has a score by Jerry Goldsmith - his music made the movies.

[King Mark 3,631]

Was he composing a score untill his passing?

K.M.

[Kramer 0]

Two pieces of bad news on the front JWfan.net page.  "Williams not doing Harry Potter 4" and "Jerry Goldsmith Passes Away".

Putting the Williams not doing Potter as bad news next to Goldsmith's passing is an insult.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

no its not, both are bad news, Jerry dying though is worse.

[BigKenLittle 6]

Could'nt let this pass without saying goodbye....

I just found out, this is my first time on the internet today, and I am not fighting tears, I want to scream and cry and I don't care who knows...

Maestro... You have no idea how much your mastery of the art meant to a teenager growing up in Canada, but I thank you for the many days and nights of joy I shared with you... You will be remembered...

BK: Kick The Can...

[Guest]

Two pieces of bad news on the front JWfan.net page.  "Williams not doing Harry Potter 4" and "Jerry Goldsmith Passes Away".  I don't even want to guess how much worse it could get.

Yes, how much worse could it possibly get? An elderly man passes away, and Williams may not score another Potter film. This is just incomprehensible :roll: The horror, the horror. When will the tragedy end?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

no its not, both are bad news, Jerry dying though is worse.

Thankfully, JoeinAr gets the jist of what I was saying.

[Guest]

I got the 'jist' of what you were saying, did you get mine?

[Dean1700 4]

Jerry Goldsmith was really one of the great composers. My favourite scores of his are Poltergeist, First Blood, Rambo II and Tora Tora Tora. It was Poltergeist that introduced me to Jerry's work and it was amazing.

It's a very sad loss and our thoughts are with his family. However, I just found out the date that he was born and I now feel fortunate to know that I share the same date.

Jerry will always be alive in our hearts and his music will always play long and loud.

Thanks again Jerry.

[Saxbabe 28]

This is truly the passing of an era in film music. His unique, majestic work was really a feature of Star Trek to me, and so many other movies.

I knew he was ill, and was afraid it was more so than we may have heard, but I hoped he would be around for many more years. What a prolific career- I do wish I could have seen him conduct in person, such a distinguished man. This is a very sad day for the composing world. It is hard to get my mind around- and just reminds me of how precious the time is we are all able to share with the great composers of our time.

God be with his family, friends, and all his fans.

Thanks for the great music-

Greta B.

[Sandor 797]

I was incredibly sad yesterday when my brother called me to inform me about the passing of Jerry Goldsmith. The world of film music and film in general will never be the same.

John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith were responsible for the popular revival of symphonic scoring during the late '70's and early '80's, in particular Star Wars, Close Encounters, Alien, Superman, Star Trek The Motion Picture, etc., etc.

Goldsmith was such a unique individual. He could write so diverse and magical. Last night I listened to a small selection of his music. My way of saying goodbye to a legend in film music scoring. His name will always be mentioned along with the other giants: Newman, Korngold, Rosza, Herrman, Goldsmith...

Bye,

Roald

[Morlock 11]

Was he composing a score untill his passing?

K.M.

No, he was not. He was originaly slated to score two movies in 2003 (unless you count Thunderbirds, which I'm not sure if it was ever official), Fred Schepisi's TV movie Empire Falls and David Anspaugh's The Game of Their Lives. I believe he officialy fropped out of the former, and with the latter, he they were trying to arrange for him to do it, but it seemed very unlikely. He was also for some reason credited as composer on Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which has no director, no actors, no production date- only a screenplay (by Steve Martin and Fred Schepisi, based on Martin's play) and a few producers.

And although Loony Toons wasn't exactly Taxi Driver or The Dead, I'm glad that his last effort was with one of his frequent collaborators, not Timeline or The Sum of All Fears.

[CYPHER 1]

Well this comes as quite a shock and a truly great loss. I extend my condolences to his family, his friends and his many, many fans, especially those of you here who have written your sensitive testimonies.

I don't have a very extensive Goldsmith collection, but I think I will listen to one little piece in memorial - the wonderful melody for the Ba'ku people from Star Trek: Insurrection. I only have a snippet of the score, taped off the radio several years ago and the sound isn't the best, but somehow it seems perfect, describing as it does the tranquil and peaceful life of a community who have found eternal life.

CYPHER

[The Prick vs The DD 0]

Wonderfull how everyone completely focusses on Jerry Goldsmith in this way on this very dedicated Williams forum. Not truely surprising because of the content but also because of the characters and ways of people here.

Wonderfull.

You people have a "Heart of Goldsmith".

[Guest]

I think it's kind of ironic how his last released piece of music was "Merry Go Round Broke Down." Kinda like he was saying, "That's all folks!" (Even though it was more like he told us to go home, folks--but hey that's Jerry's humor...funny guy he was).

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Wonderfull how everyone completely focusses on Jerry Goldsmith in this way on this very dedicated Williams forum.

Thats because other than John, there was no one better than Jerry.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Wiser words were never spoken on this MB.

[Hlao-roo 389]

I got the 'jist' of what you were saying, did you get mine?

Oh, must we belabor this? Yes, I'm sure he realizes that a composer's death is far graver than a composer declining an assignment. Although he could have phrased his observation a bit more sensitively, his point remains: for many people, the news around here of late has been nothing to celebrate.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

his point remains: for many people, the news around here of late has been nothing to celebrate.

Wiser words were never spoken on this MB.

[Hlao-roo 389]

There are many facets to our grief, among which is the realization that a tremendous void has been left in Hollwood film scoring. There is really no one else living besides John Williams of Jerry Goldsmith's stature. Elmer Bernstein and John Barry are still around but their output has declined significantly, and no one can really say that they remain at the top of their game (as fine as Bernstein's Far From Heaven was). Ennio Morricone, another giant in film music who is still churning out quality music, is not a Hollywood regular.

[Lurker 5]

This is from the L.A. Times' obituary: Instead of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the Jerry Goldsmith Scholarship Fund for Film Music Composition, c/o UCLA School of the Arts, Dean's Office, Box 951427, Los Angeles, CA 90095, or to the Jerry Goldsmith Memorial Fund for Cancer Research, c/o Tower Cancer Research Foundation, 9090 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Neil

[Steven Awalt 0]

Still having trouble believing Mr. Goldsmith is dead, even given the recent news on the state of his health. Despite his fight with cancer, he still seemed so alive in the last video I saw of him (the introduction to "Superman" and a few other flicks on cable this past year).

I've really gotten into Goldsmith's work more than ever this past year with great thanks to Neil. Before, I limited myself to select works (Poltergeist, which is a masterpiece, The Omen, Planet of the Apes, and a handful of others) because I had this wacky prejudice growing up with some of his scores from the eighties that had too much cheesy sythisizer in them for my tastes. Such short-sightedness made me miss out on a lot of briliant work for far too long. I particularly love Goldsmith's 1968-1983 period (if it can be broken down as such), pre-heavy synth use. Nearly everything he did during those years easily stands above most other composer's output, Williams excluded, of course, who I think stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Goldsmith, despite all the bickering at places like FSM.

As I said on my site, Goldsmith's passing is a loss that film music will never recover from. He may not have received the best commissions for the last couple of decades (seeing he did a lot of second-tier films throughout the eighties and nineties), and its a real shame more "A-list" directors didn't see fit to utilize the amazing talents of one of Hollywood's most innovative, original composers. Even still, Goldsmith brought so much even to lesser films (much like Williams does when he takes on such films as "Heartbeeps," etc.), which is more than some composers who reguarly recycle their works on the upper echelons of Hollywood releases can say. Goldsmith was a class act all the way.

P.S.?in the locked thread on Goldsmith's passing, someone mentioned how inconsiderate it was for someone to have said Goldsmith was "dead." I presume the person didn't mean anything wrong with it, and in news, it's actually the "correct" way to report on someone's passing (AP style at least). It might not be the most pleasant word, but it's a fact of life, sadly.

[Lurker 5]

I also made a Jerry Goldsmith tribute banner for the Music forum on the tf.n boards.

And it's a lovely tribute. I urge everyone here to check out Tim's work at The Force.Net's music discussion board.

Neil

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

If I didn't have the Internet, I wouldn't have known about this. It hasn't been reported on any American or Australian television news or any Australian newspaper that I've seen. From my point of view, this goes to show how much the Media cares.

:?

[Steven Awalt 0]

If I didn't have the Internet, I wouldn't have known about this.  It hasn't been reported on any American or Australian television news or any Australian newspaper that I've seen.  From my point of view, this goes to show how much the Media cares.

:?

Yet if Brittany Spears or someone of that ilk were to pass on, it'd be treated as a national emergency. :roll:

[RomanticStrings 10]

Goodbye, Mr. Goldsmith! :cry:

~Conor

[JoeinAR 1,949]

If I didn't have the Internet, I wouldn't have known about this.  It hasn't been reported on any American or Australian television news or any Australian newspaper that I've seen.  From my point of view, this goes to show how much the Media cares.

:?

Yet if Brittany Spears or someone of that ilk were to pass on, it'd be treated as a national emergency. :roll:

like that rap artist(oxymoron) ashanti or something who crashed in the Bahama's a few years ago, she was pretty, and talentless, and the media made it out to be the greatest loss to music. Sad she died, but she was but an insignificant footnote.